Harry Potter and the Binding Magic
by shadow's rain
Summary: It's the summer of sixth year and already upon them. As the Second War begins in earnest Harry trys to deal with loss, guilt, the Prophecy, taking a major part in the war, reshaping the DA into a real army, and taking up the duties of a Hogwarts prefect i
1. Dealing with the Dursleys

**Harry Potter and the Binding Magic**

**Chapter 1**

**Leaving the Dursleys**

Dawn found Harry Potter as it always had, starring at the window blankly, trying to find some kind of refuge from the pain and guilt that had been tearing at him for the past month, since _that_ day. Thoughts like 'It's my fault he's dead' and 'If I could have mastered that bloody Occlumency then none of this would have happened and Sirius wouldn't be d-d-d-dead.'

Fighting back another wave of depression, a completely random and terrifying thought crossed his mind, making him blanch, "the prophecy said _'AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES....' _If it comes down to just me and Voldemort then everyone I care about is in danger Ron, Hermione, Ginny, everyone! Death by association," he thought bitterly, "one of Voldemort's favorite tactics. Which means ...."

Unable to finish that thought, his heart heavier than it had been less than five minutes ago, Harry turned to his desk and gathered up the letters from his friends that were strewn all over it, and threw them in the garbage. He had been getting at least two letters a day from both the Order and Ron and Hermione, even Ginny had been sending him letters. He hadn't opened them earlier because he hadn't been able to deal with their constant 'are you OK's', he had a better reason to ignore them now.

Sighing and mentally preparing himself for a long summer, Harry turned back to his bed to read, well, memorize actually. Harry was determined that if there was no way to avoid the prophecy then he would do everything in his power to make sure that the result would be exactly the way he wanted it – with him as the victor. And after seeing him duel Dumbledore, Harry knew that he had a long ways to go before he was ready.

About five hours later, when Harry had almost finished the book and was preparing to practice wand movements, he heard a gentle knock at his door. Puzzled, the Dursleys had left him completely alone since getting here (the only good result of Mad-Eye's warning to the Dursleys), he grabbed his wand and slowly opened the door.

"Hello, Harry," said a quiet voice that Harry had hoped not to hear at all over break.

It was Albus Dumbledore, newly reinstated Headmaster at Hogwarts, and currently the last person in the world that Harry wanted to see, even Voldemort would have been more welcome than him. The sight of him had sent cold rage rushing through Harry's veins and he had to fight to control the strong urge to strangle him.

As if sensing his rage, Dumbledore said hesitantly, "Harry?"

Slowly, still fighting the urge to attack him, Harry looked up into his headmaster's face. What he saw there shocked him: gone was the trademark Dumbledore twinkle that had always been present in his eyes, instead he saw that exhaustion, grief,

pain, and suffering. The same with his face, Harry had always known that Dumbledore was old, but now he looked ancient beyond belief. currently at a loss for words, he stood back to let his headmaster in.

As soon as Harry had closed the door, Dumbledore said from Harry's window, "Mr. Potter, I am here to inform you that the Ministry has seen it fit to allow you to use magic as you leave the your relatives for the rest of the summer. Further more, the Ministry has also granted you an Apparation permit due to the fact that we need to know you can move great distances safely." While he was saying this, his eyes had moved from Harry's face to scan the room. and when his eyes found the trash bin, Harry could have sworn that he saw a flicker of anguish in his eyes, but it was gone so fast that he couldn't be sure.

Harry was also puzzled that the Headmaster was calling him 'Mr. Potter' and not Harry, as Dumbledore had never called him that before, but not enough to cool the rage that was still coursing through him. "Is that all, Headmaster?"

"No, Harry," Dumbledore paused, then continued, "Do not push your friends and all who love you away, for the results will be disastrous. I know, I did the same thing and the results almost killed me. Farewell Mr. Potter, and I will see you in a few days." And with that, Dumbledore swept from the room and Disapperated with barely a sound, leaving behind a still raging, but now very confused Harry Potter lying on his bed.

Tap, tap, tap. Harry was pulled out of his dream like state to find Hedwig perched at the window asking to be let in. Scowling at being disturbed, Harry obliged, and rolled off of the bed to let her in.

As Hedwig flew in, Harry stayed at the window a little longer, watching the stars twinkling in the night. Realizing that his gaze was being pulled to a certain dog star he spun around to find his snow-white owl glaring at him with a smoking red letter in her beak. "Bloody Hell," Harry said softly as he finally realized that his owl was holding a Howler in her beak.

Reaching over to take it, Harry had barely gotten his finger under the slit when Ginny Weasley's voice exploded around the whole house. "HARRY JAMES POTTER HOW DARE YOU DO THIS TO US! TRYING TO PUSH US AWAY AND MAKING US HATE YOUBY NOT ANSWERING OUR LETTERS! YOU'VE MADE MUM CRY TWICE WHEN HEDWIG CAME BACK WITHOUT LETTERS, AND REMUS ISN'T MUCH BETTER! IF YOU DON'T ANSWER OUR LETTERS SOON THEN I WILL HEX YOU INTO NEXT WEEK! AND WHEN -" But Harry never got to hear the rest of Ginny's threat, for at that very moment Uncle Vernon's voice shook the entire foundation of the house.

"THAT'S IT! I WILL NOT HAVE ANY MORE OF THAT UNNATURALNESS IN MY HOUSE ANYMORE! I AM GOING TO TEACH THAT FREAK A LESSON THAT HE'LL NEVER FORGET!" BAM! Harry's door flew off its hinges to revel his uncle charging at him, his face purple with rage.

"I HAVE HAD IT WITH YOU AND YOUR UNNATRALNESS! YOU ARE NOT GOING BACK TO THAT SCHOOL!"

Wham! Uncle Vernon's overly large fist came slamming into his chest forcing Harry into the wall behind him. The pain of that punch and all those that followed caused Harry to go into a daze. He was only dimly able to register a second pair of hands joining the first, which meant that Dudley had woken up and decided to join in on the fun. When what seemed like hours had passed, Harry felt a quill and parchment being forced into his hands. "Right, you are to write to those freaky friends of yours and tell them that you are perfectly fine here and don't want to go back."

It took Harry a little while to write the letter due to the mass amounts of bruises that he had received. After he had finally finished and sent the letter off with Hedwig, Harry received one last parting punch from his uncle sending him into his open wardrobe's mirror. The force of the crash caused his ribs to snap and the mirror to shatter sending many shards of glass into his back, and making him cry out in pain.

He slowly dragged himself back to his bed, his glasses miraculously unbroken, but upon reaching it, collapsed on the floor too weak to pull himself up.

It was business as usual at Grimmuld Place when a great snowy owl swooped into the kitchen and dropped a letter in front of the sixteen-year-old black haired girl sitting at the table watching Hermione trying to get Ron to do his homework and Ron complaining that he still had two whole months to finish it, and laughing at their expressions.

Looking up as the letter dropped, she reached up and grabbed it before it could reach the table. Opening and reading it, the laughter on her face slowly faded with each line read.

"Dinner's almost ready; would you get the rest of the crew down here?" Remus asked walking up behind her, "what's that, Laura?"

"I'm not sure. Hang on; I'm going to ask Ginny something." Answered Laura before getting up and sweeping from the room, passed Ron and Hermione who were still fighting over his homework.

Laura found Ginny a few minutes later in the room Neville Longbottom was sharing with Ron, and Harry, when he got there. "No, I don't think that will work, Hermione's too smart to fall for it." Neville was whispering to Ginny.

"Oh, come on Neville. It's the best we've got. And we ne -"

"Don't you two know it's rude to whisper? And even more, it's inappropriate for Ginny to be in here alone and unsupervised?" Laura asked, leaning on the doorway.

Both Ginny and Neville jumped and looked guilty until they saw who it was. "Merlin, Laura, don't do that to us. You nearly gave us a heart attack." Ginny said grumpily, and then paused, "You want to join us? We're trying to figure out how to get Ron and Hermione together."

Grinning, Laura said, "They need some one to, cause from the looks of it, they'll never do it on their own. But I can't help right now. I need to ask you a question, Ginny."

"What?"

"Did you send Harry that Howler that you were thinking of sending?"

"No," the answer came a little to quickly and Laura raised her eyebrow, "Oh, alright. Yes I sent it to him. And if you ask me, the bloody idiot deserved it."

"Thanks, Gin. You may want to try locking their wands in a separate room and make them work together to get them out." the black haired girl answered before heading back down to the kitchen. "Oh, and Remus says dinner's ready."

By the time that Laura had gotten halfway down the stairs Neville and Ginny had already overtaken her in a race to the kitchen.

Remus Lupin looked up from the stove when he heard the door slam against the wall and two teens scrambling to be the first to get to the table followed by an extremely angry Laura. "Well, judging from the look on your face, what ever answer Ginny gave you to your question wasn't a good one."

"Judge for yourself." was the reply he got followed by a letter soaring at him. Grabbing it with the same reflexes that Laura had previously demonstrated, Remus looked down at the letter and what had remained of his good mood since Sirius had died vanished completely.

The letter read:

_"Dear who ever is reading this,_

_I am perfectly fine at the Dursleys and would like to stay for the rest of the year, not going back to school. Life is especially great when you are living here against your will._

_Harry_

_P.S. Tell Ginny that her letter was a great hit with my uncle._

Remus looked up, his face a mixture of horror and rage. "Is this –" he spluttered, too angry to speak.

"Yes," the tone of her voice said that she wasn't any happier at what the letter contained than he was, probably more, given her history, "Ginny just confirmed that she sent the Howler, and judging from what I have heard about the Dursleys, and the fact that there are fresh blood stains on the letter. You're a werewolf, Remus, you should have smelt it."

Sniffing it, his face darkened, if possible, even more, "You're right. It's Harry's blood."

"Remus, I've just confirmed that Laura's theory on the blood charm around Harry's house it true. I need you to be ready to pick him up tomorrow after sunset." They turned around to find that Dumbledore, Tonks, and Kingsley had just entered the kitchen. Hearing Harry's name the four teens at the table had turned to face those at the stove. Wordlessly, Laura took Harry's letter from Remus and handed it to Dumbledore.

"Is this genuine?" The words contained a barely suppressed anger. One look at their faces gave him his answer. "Bring him back, NOW! Laura, go with them, I have a feeling you'll be needed."

As the four raced from the house, Dumbledore whispered, "and give whoever did this to him hell," before turning to deal with four very confused teens and one very angry Molly Weasley.

Harry regained consciousness to hear yelling going on downstairs; "I DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO THAT BOY THAT HE DID NOT ALREADY DESERVE! HE TOLD YOU FREAKS THAT HE DOES NOT WANT TO LEAVE. SO GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"

This was answered by a voice colder than anything Harry had ever heard, "Vernon Dursley, if you and your wife do not move out of our way I will have no problem what so ever on cursing you into next week." From the sudden silence and footsteps on the stairs, Harry guessed that who ever the Order had sent was coming up to him. However, when he tried to push himself up, he just collapsed from the intensity of the pain his body was sending him.

"Harry, Harry, are you alright?" the voice of his former DADA teacher, Professor Lupin loomed over him and he could see that Ginny was right, Lupin did look a lot worse than the last time he had seen him.

Even still, Harry could not help but answer the obvious question with a sarcastic comment, "I'm just great, professor, a few bruises, but nothing serious or life threatening."

Lupin gave a hollow laugh, "Well at least your sense of humor is still intact. Must be a Potter trait, Laura, the sarcasm and the timing of it, both your fathers had it too. And call me Remus, Harry, I haven't been your professor since third year."

A girl about Harry's age suddenly walked into his view, "I remember, it used to drive Aunt Lily mad that Dad and Uncle James would joke about something in the middle of something dead serious. Now stay still, Harry, while I have a look at you."

Harry suddenly found himself suspended in midair with nothing holding him up. Surprised, he started to struggle, and felt himself being forced down by air pressure. He struggled even harder, there was no way that he was going to let any girl, never mind one that looked like she was only a year older than him, 'have a look' at him."

"Calm down, Harry. Laura needs to see how much damage has been done before we decide what to do and just how much to punish your uncle for what he has done." Harry turned his head to see who had spoken, and saw Kingsley and Tonks, who was causing all of his things to be packed in his trunk, standing guard at the door. "I'm sorry, Harry. I should have done more to stop Bellatrix from hitting me with that curse."

This statement confused Harry, then he remembered that Kingsley was the one who had been fighting Bellatrix before Sirius. He shook his head firmly, "My fault, not yours. If I hadn't been so bloody – ARG!" Laura had pressed her hands against Harry's chest causing an explosion of pain. "What was that for?"

"'Just a few bruises' has got to be the understatement of the year. You've got a broken collar bone, one really nasty bruise on your neck (not to mention all the other ones), at least eight big shards of glass in your back (not counting the smaller ones), and…" she paused and felt his ribs again causing another round of pain, "Holy Shit!"

"What is it?" Remus asked, his fists clenched as to not start swinging at things.

"You're not going to like it."

"I doubt we will. But we need to know."

"If I tell you, you have to swear that you will leave any punishing that is to be done to Dumbledore."

"Alright! We swear! Just tell us already." Tonks exploded unable to deal with the stress any longer.

Laura seemed to be considering what to do, then, "alright, I'll tell you. He's shattered his rib cage."

There were blank looks all around the room even Harry, who had thought he knew every injury possible due to his frequent visits to the Hospital Wing, had no idea what that meant, just that it wasn't good.

"Honestly! It means that every bone in his rib cage has been broken into pieces. He's lucky that there was no damage to his spine. If Harry moves anymore, at all, there's a good chance that he could end up not being able to play Quidditch ever again."

This little piece of news shocked Harry and he suddenly stopped trying to get out of whatever spell had him suspended in midair. "Harry, look at me, we need to get you to a safe place to take care of you. As Voldemort has figured out a way to get passed the spells here, Grimmuld Place is the safest place for you. I know that it would mean going back there sooner than you would like to, but it has to be done." Remus looked into Harry's eyes and did not look away when he met the gaze and nodded.

"Great, Laura, it would probably be best if you were the one to bring Harry back. Tonks, Kingsley, and I will...." he trailed off his eyes widening and suddenly walked to the door, "Damn it, we need to leave now."

"Why?" this came from Tonks.

"They're here. And unless you want to face them, then I suggest we leave now."

"How long?" Kingsley's tone was suddenly brisk and no nonsense.

"Five minutes, max. And from the sound of it, probably less." Laura said before Remus could open his mouth.

Suddenly Harry's scar exploded with pain. The closest he could get to explaining it was that it came close to the pain he had felt the night Voldemort had tried to posses him. Through the pain he could hear Voldemort's maniacal laughter echoing through his head. Reaching blindly around to get someone's attention, he grabbed someone's arm and whispered, "He's here."

Laura's voice told him who's arm he had grabbed, "Damn it, then make it one. We need to get out of here now." BAM! There was an explosion that shook the whole house. "Shit. Everyone leave now!"

"Laura, take Harry and GO! We'll hold them till then." Through another blinding burst of pain Harry felt arms wrap around him and a voice yell, "AVADA KADAVRA!" and Laura counter, "MAGIC SHIELD CIRCLE 9."

Then everything went black.


	2. Trust and Cousins

**Chapter 2**

**Trust and Cousins**

Five minutes after the group had left; Albus Dumbledore was left alone to deal with angry and concerned questions from four very panicked teens and one very angry Molly Weasley, who's wrath had become legendary among the Order and everyone (including Snape) had learned the hard way to steer clear of it. She was currently yelling at the Headmaster for letting Laura accompany the adults on what very well could be a trap.

Getting anxious about the group, but in no means worried about the sixteen - year - old's ability to defend herself in the case of an attack, Professor Dumbledore decided to put a stop to the Weasley matriarch's attacks before he really did get a headache, "Molly, please, calm down. You are giving me a headache." The look he received told him that she could care less about his head when her surrogate son and daughter were in danger. "Laura is perfectly capable of dealing with and indeed probably the best suited to deal with, the possible Death Eater attack, which is why I sent her. As to her being underage, she will be seventeen in a few days and to put it frankly, it is up to me, not you, as her legal guardian to decide what she can and cannot do."

Mrs. Weasley looked like she was going to argue back when Hermione interrupted, "Please professor? Why is Laura the best suited to deal with an attack? And is Harry really in that much danger?"

"Unfortunately, yes, Harry is in grave danger. Not only from the impending attack, but now it appears that his relatives no longer want his presence in their house." Dumbledore seemed to be purposely ignoring her question about Laura."

"Harry always hated going back to the Dursleys during the holiday, but they never said they abused him." commented an ashen faced Ron who looked like hurting someone at the moment. "Ginny, what's wrong?" he added seeing his sister's horror struck face.

"The Howler."

"Hu?" was the response she got from everyone present.

"I sent Harry a Howler last night when Hedwig came with Harry's 'I'm fine' notes and nothing else. I was so upset at Mum crying and Lupin looking like he was trying not to that I had sent it before I even knew what I was doing."

The wizened headmaster opened his mouth to respond when three loud cracks alerted those present to the group's return. Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Ginny were already racing to be the first to meet them before the adults present had even gotten out of their chairs.

What they saw when they got there was Kingsley looking torn between amusement and the 'ready for battle' look that all Aurors wore when danger was near, Tonks was shaking half with laughter and half with fright being supported by Remus Lupin who was not looking much better.

Questions started hounding the three, "Why are you laughing?" "What happened?" "Where's Laura and Harry" "What's wrong with Tonks?"

Holding his hand out, Kingsley said, his emotions under control, in his deep calming voice, "One at a time. Harry is with Laura, who should be along any moment after she's done dealing with You – Know – Who." Gasps were heard all around, "Tonks will be fine after she gets over the shock of surviving a killing curse aimed at her chest with no way to block it, only to have it dissolve into a shield cast by Laura."

He paused and looked at Dumbledore, who looked like he was very proud of his charge's accomplishments but not surprised. "I see what you mean Albus. She is a very good duelist, even without her wand."

This statement caused a shocked silence broken by Hermione and Ginny's scream of "HARRY!" Laura had appeared in the middle of the group looking distinctly disgruntled, "Sorry it took so long. Teleporting with another person is hard enough, doing it with another person AND extra luggage is nearly impossible." This was aimed at the three who had appeared a short while before her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go take care of my cousin and will be needing Ginny and Hermione's help. The rest of you can direct your questions to the two males who seem to be perfectly capable of answering them. Remus, can you bring Tonks up with you?"

"No, I'm fine Laura. Besides, Harry will need your full attention." Tonks answered, pulling herself away from Remus' supporting arms.

"Ginny and Hermione will be able to do most of it. I also need to see if that shield managed to stop the entire spell or just numb the effects. Now upstairs, everyone. Any disturbances and the one to cause them will be hanging upside down for the rest of the week." This threat shut Ron up, who had just been about to protest (he had just recently learned that getting on the bad side of Laura was worse than getting on the bad side of Fred and George.

Seeing the fierce look in her eyes, no one, not even Mrs. Weasley, tried to argue. Defeated, the three girls marched upstairs with Harry hovering before them while everyone else trudged back into the kitchen.

"What's taking so long? They've been locked up in there for two days." Ron grumbled as they were sitting down to breakfast three days after Harry had been rescued from the Dursleys.

"Maybe Harry's died and they just don't want to tell us." Neville said with a fearful look in his eyes. "I don't think I could stand losing another friend so soon."

"Now boys, don't start thinking down those lines. I'm sure that the four of them are just fine. It's probable just taking longer than it usually would. After all, Laura's powers are bound to be lower than usual after taking that cutting curse to the chest." Mrs. Weasley scolded the two boys before setting down their breakfast in front of them. "Although, I am getting worried. They haven't eaten in those two days either. Maybe I should go up and give them something."

"That wouldn't be the best idea Molly. I once had the misfortune of getting on Laura's bad side and ended up with that same curse placed on me." Dumbledore said sitting down at the table and digging into the plate in front of him. "Although, I was up there a lot longer than Mr. Weasley was when he encountered it. I wonder if it was because I had annoyed her more or because I had tried every counter curse I knew to get out of it, to no avail I might add." This caused Ron and Neville to snort into their plates earning them disapproving looks from Mrs. Weasley.

"Actually, Ada, it was a bit of both. If I can recall that incident correctly, it was the time that you had attempted to make me spent the summer holiday with Snape and I conveniently forgot to tell you that the harder you try to get yourself down the more time was added to the original amount that was set." Laura said from the door, an evil smirk on her face. "I think that that was sufficient enough to convince you that it wasn't the best idea in the world."

This was too much for everyone to take and they all started roaring with laughter, even Mrs. Weasley had given into the image of Albus Dumbledore, esteemed headmaster of Hogwarts hanging upside down with his usual robes that seemed to have been stuck in their minds. It was actually, quite literally, as Fred and George figured from the smirk that was developing across her face, "LAURA! Stop! That's just too gross."

George looked from her to his former headmaster's resigned look and asked, "Did she really, headmaster?"

"Not quite like what I imagine she is making you see, but yes, I must admit that I did spend a rather long time in the air after suggesting that she spend the summer holidays with Professor Snape." This comment brought another round of laughter from the gathered party.

Just then, Hermione and Ginny came in looking slightly worse for wear. Hermione's innocent question of "What's so funny?" brought another round of laughter that was only stopped when Mrs. Weasley got a good look at the state of the three healers.

"Ginny! What have you three been doing? You look like you haven't slept in days!"

"We haven't Mum. We've been to busy taking care of Harry that we only slept in two-hour shifts, and that was just me and Hermione. Laura stayed up the whole time." Ginny was grinning at the scowl that was beginning to form on the girl's face. "She kept muttering something about broken ribs and 'that bloody cutting curse.'"

That last comment did the trick. Not only did it get Mrs. Weasley away from Ginny and Hermione, which was what she intended, but also got her fussing over Laura as payback for her stunt on her guardian. "Mrs. Weasley, I'm fine. Just a few broken ribs, but that's all. I need to go check up on Harry in a moment, I just came down to let you all know that he's fine and when he decides to wake up he'll be perfectly fine to do what ever he wants." And with that she made her escape before she could be cornered, leaving a giggling Hermione and a very sour Ginny to answer all their questions.

Harry's first conscious memory was of seeing the Killing Curse flying straight at Tonks. Sitting bolt upright in a panic and trying to get out of bed, he found himself being forced back down by an invisible hand. After trying to fight the spell for five minutes, Harry resigned himself to the obvious and laid back down on the bed.

Looking around the room, he saw that instead of the being in the Hospital Wing like he was expecting, he was in some sort of room, apparently a bedroom. There were books scattered around and from what he could see they were mostly Defense Against the Dark Arts books ('Maybe I'm with the new DADA teacher' he thought), but there were also a fair amount of muggle fantasy around too.

He heard the door open and close and turned his head to see the black haired girl who came to pick him up from the Dursleys enter. She had an armload of food with her, and was downing it faster than he thought possible. Looking up she stopped eating and said mildly, "Oh good you're awake. We thought you had decided not to rejoin the living and that we were going to have to ask Snape to give you detention for the rest of the year unless you got up."

A very confused Harry could only stare at her like an idiot before a very intelligent "Hu?" escaped him.

Arching an eyebrow at him the girl (he still couldn't remember her name) said sarcastically, "Very intelligent Mister Potter. If you keep this up you just may be able to make it past first year Charms. Pathetic really, Remus said you were bright, well bright and quick, apparently he was wrong."

That last comment made him flush, "Well maybe it would help if I knew who you are, where I am, and what day it is."

She put the food down on the desk next to her crossed to the door opened it and hollered, "Hey guys! I'm putting that hex back up so unless you want to be hanging upside down for the rest of the day I suggest you do not try to open the door or eavesdrop on us. And yes you two that includes your Extendable Ears." Harry could guess that the last comment was directed at the Weasley twins who had invented the very useful eavesdropping tools last year to spy on Order business due to the loud groans that followed.

When she turned around and shut the door with a wave of her hand he said, "You know, it would be easier to put an Impurbiable Charm on the door. The ears can't get through them."

"They were improved. I'm surprised that you didn't hear the explosion in Surry when she found Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, and I listening to an Order meeting on them. That was the angriest I've ever seen Mrs. Weasley, and as none of us have a death wish we all handed ours over with no protests. I wouldn't be surprised if Fred and George still had some though.

"As to your earlier questions; it is now one day before your birthday, and you are at Grimmuld Place, so you now know that I'm not going to kidnap you and take you to Voldemort as Dumbledore trusts me."

Dumbledore's name brought a dark look to the boy's face and he growled, "But can we trust him?"

It was almost impossible to miss the look that she sent him, but miss it he did causing the girl to say, "Right, I am going to ignore that for the moment. But as to who I am…" she hesitated then said, "I'm Laura Akira Potter, the daughter of James Potter's older brother."

"Nice to mee -" Laura's words finally sunk in. "That's not possible. All my dad's family is - ."

"Dead I know. That's what most of the world thinks anyway. Until ten years ago, that _is_ what everyone thought. You weren't the only one to survive the attack on Godric's Hollow." Laura said gently.

"But then, that would mean I don't have to live with the Dursleys anymore!" He paused, "Why didn't Dumbledore tell me?" he demanded. "Was it another bloody thing he thought I was to young to hear?"

"BECAUSE TELLING YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN TELLING VOLDEMORT AND RIDDLE FINDING OUT WOULD HAVE BEEN MY DEATH SENTENCE! I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I KNOW THAT I DON'T HAVE THAT MUCH OF A DEATH WISH!"

Harry was stunned. He hadn't meant to yell at her, he barely knew her, but had even less expected that she'd yell back. Maybe he was too used to people walking on eggshells around him. Too shocked to think properly "Who?"

"What? Oh, sorry, it's what I call Dumbledore. He's been my guardian since they discovered I was alive."

"Oh, so you get to live with someone who loves you while I get sent back to the Dursleys every summer. I doubt the old man even cares that I'm alive right now. As he said _'my priority was to keep you alive'_, he only cares about the damn prophecy. He won't even give me the information on what Voldemort is doing." the sarcasm was practically dripping from his voice.

"Did you read _any_ of the mail we've been sending you over this month? I don't think so, cause if you have, then you'd know that Ada promised to tell you every thing that you needed to know when you got here."

"THAT'S ONLY SO I STAY ALIVE TO FUFILL THAT BLOODY PROPHECY!" Harry exploded loudly. "HE DOESN'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ME!"

Laura arched her eyebrow "Harry if I told you that Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville were being hunted by the supporters of the most feared dark lord of the age what would your first priority be?"

"To protect them." was the automatic answer.

"And that is exactly how Ada felt with you. He cared more about keeping you alive than anything else. And it was the blood protection that kept you alive that first year. From what I've heard there were five attacks on you within that year and the only thing that stopped them all was the blood protection.

"As to keeping the prophecy from you, Harry, do you really expect me to believe that you wouldn't have gone off trying to fulfill the damned thing your first year if you had known?"

Harry opened his mouth to retort but stopped short as he thought about it. He laid there for a moment staring at the sheets. She was right; he probably would have gone and tried to fulfill the prophecy before he was ready and gotten himself killed doing it. Slowly he realized that she had just squashed all of his arguments in one go. In one last attempted protest, before he completely gave in he asked, "Does the whole Order know about the Prophecy?"

Laura laughed "Nope, though not for lack of trying. They've been hounding Ada, Remus and Sirius to tell them since the Order was called back. If anything, what happened in June's made them even more desperate to know. But Ada's told them that it was for you to tell and no one else. And before you ask; your friends don't know about it either, though I strongly suggest you tell them. Then only reason I know is because I was eavesdropping Dumbledore went to tell Uncle James and Aunt Lily about it. I was spending the week there as my parents were on an Order mission, and no one knows that I know it. Happy now?"

"I guess. Though I suspect you're going to want me to apologize to him now."

"That would be a good idea. You hurt Ada badly when you refused to talk to him last time. And as those who know him well say; Dumbledore's silence is ten times worse than his wrath."

Harry sighed, she was right; Dumbledore not talking to him last year had hurt a lot more than he had thought silence would. Already he could feel his anger towards Dumbledore disappearing to be replaced with guilt at how he had treated to old man and at what he did to his office the night Sirius died.

Seeing his eyes fill with sadness, Laura took a guess at what was bothering him and said softly, "It wasn't your fault, you know."

"Yes it was. Voldemort tricked me into going and then he came and died because I was so DAMNED GULLABLE!" the last words came out louder than he had wanted.

"No, I don't think so." Laura said thoughtfully. Harry looked up. "Wither or not you knew the prophecy you would have gone. All you knew was that Sirius was in danger and that you were the only ones who could save him, sure, you would have been a little more careful about how you did it, but I still think you would have gone. To put it simply, you loved him to much to risk your vision being real and not doing anything about it. Sirius' death was no one's fault but Voldemort's for luring you there and Bellatrix's for casting the curse that killed him."

As Harry listened to his newly found cousin's words, he felt the guilt and pain for Sirius slowly ease into a small ache that would always be there but would allow him to live his life, as Sirius would have wanted him to. "Do you know just how much you sounded like Dumbledore just then?"

"Did I really? I guess ten years of living with him must have finally rubbed off. Ada'll and Minerva will be pleased. Now if only his obedience to the rules would rub off as well then the whole staff would be thrilled. They seem to fear what I may do once term starts"

Harry snorted and asked, "Are you part of the Order? Is that why you were with Remus, Tonks, and Kingsley when they picked me up?"

"I wish. If I was in the Order, not only would you hear Molly Weasley fuming over that, but Fred, George, and everyone else who is not aloud to join until they graduate."

"So you're our age?"

"Nope. Year older, seventeen tomorrow. Now come on before the whole lot of them lose their patience, try to blow up the door and end up hanging upside."

Harry's eyes widened "You're underage and you can do that? Are you sure you're not in the Order? Cause if you're not then being Dumbledore's protégé seems to have it's advantages."

"Yep, I swear I'm not in the Order cause if I was you'd have heard about it." Laura paused thinking. "Tell you what, this bit of info can be your early birthday present; I over heard Kingsley telling Mad – Eye that Dumbledore's managed to convince the Order to give us a trial so we're all asked to be present at tonight's meeting and we're going to have to prove that they should let us in. Unfortunately that means the vote's got to be unanimous, so we'll have to convince Mrs. Weasley. The only thing I can think of that will convince her is the Prophecy. You'll also be finding out why I can do certain types of magic outside of school."

"Why not now?"

Harry could have sworn he saw her brilliant sapphier eyes darken for a moment before answering, "Just like you have your secrets, I have mine. Judging by how hard it is to get into the Order we'll both be forced to revel them before we're ready to." she suddenly brightened and with a wave of her hand removed the spell that had Harry bound to his bed.

"Now come on. I really don't feel like having all five Weasley boys, Ginny, Hermione, and Neville yelling at me to take them down. I have a hunch that Fred and George are already up there."


	3. Apology Accepted

**Chapter 3**

**Apology Accepted**

"Well, well. Look who decided to join the living."

"Gee, I dunno George. It certainly doesn't look like he's alive."

"Yeah, how long did you have to hang him upside down to get him to look like that?"

"Any possibility at getting us down from here, Laura?"

"Yeah. It's not like we ever did anything to you."

"Oh shut it Fred. It's your own fault you tried those damn Extendable Ears. I did warn you. And as to not doing anything to me, I seem to recall a certain permanent Canary Cream that mysteriously found its way into my breakfast yesterday." Whatever else she was going to say was cut off by two cries of "HARRY!"

He barley had time to brace himself against the onslaught of a bushy haired girl and a red haired girl and he was suddenly buried under them. "Oi, Hermione, Ginny let the man breath." Harry looked over their heads to see Ron, who had seemed to grow three inches since they last saw each other, and "NEVILLE!"

"Hey Harry. Feeling better?" the boy who had always been the clumsiest person in Harry's year seemed to have grown a lot more confidence since the Department of Mysteries fiasco.

"Great, and the best part is; I don't have to spend any more time in bed!" He said, happy that he didn't have to spend his birthday bedridden.

"That's great. You look loads better than you did three days ago. I mean, you had blood all over you and bruises all over your body, especially this really nasty one on your neck." Hermione said beaming

"Wait a minute… how did _you_ know what injuries I had?" Harry demanded.

Laura winced, "Sorry Harry, my fault. I needed their help with your smaller wounds so I could concentrate on your back and your ribs."

"My what?" a flustered Harry asked.

"Harry, before you get your hackles up, you had countless bruises all over your body, a broken collar bone, myriad shards of glass in your back, and you completely shattered your ribcage. That took the most energy to heal. Don't you remember Laura saying that if you didn't stop moving you may never be able to play Quidditch again?" Remus asked from his seat at the table.

Harry had been in the act of getting ready to start yelling when Remus mentioned the 'not playing Quidditch' part and froze, a horror struck look on his face which made Laura snigger. "Calm down Harry. You are perfectly healed and will be able to play Quidditch when the season starts. But I believe that you owe an apology to someone in this room?"

Wincing, Harry scanned the room for said person and was surprised to see his headmaster sitting in at the table watching Harry, but not saying a word. Slowly gathering his famous 'Gryffindor Courage', Harry removed himself from his friends and walked over to him. "Professor, I owe you an apology for my recent behavior. I'm sorry for breaking your things in my anger, and I am endlessly sorry for being so cold to you when you came to visit me." He stopped unable to carry on yet unable to bring himself to look into his headmaster's eyes.

"Harry look at me." He felt the surprisingly strong hands of the Professor slip under his chin and his face being lifted up to see twinkling blue eyes. He was shocked, it seemed that a hundred years had been lifted of his shoulders in the five seconds since his apology. "Harry, there's no need to apologize for your actions in my office last month. I was quite honest when I told you that I had too many possessions. As to your reaction a few days ago, I must say that your cold anger hurt me, but as I have gone through the same thing that you have, I'm not one to complain too much. At lest you're still talking to me. I wasn't as generous with my mentor."

Harry was shocked to say the least, but as he opened his mouth to ask Dumbledore cut him off saying, "I shall tell you later Harry. Right now I think that your friends are a little too anxious to eat lunch and we're holding them back." Right on cue, Ron's stomach grumbled loudly.

"Alright everyone into the kitchen. I know for a fact that four of you haven't eaten anything in three days so you're not leaving until you've had three full servings." Mrs. Weasley said bustling out of the kitchen and ushering everyone into eat.

Ginny, Harry, Hermione, and Laura all had finished three plates of Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking before joining the conversations that surrounded them. Hermione was asking Laura about the different classes that she was planning to take (having given up on asking Ron) when Harry realized something, "Hey Laura, if you're only sixteen then how come we've never seen you around Hogwarts?"

"Dumbledore sent me to Salem's Academy for Witchcraft and Wizardry for the past five years, it would have been four, but that bitch the minister has the nerve to call human banned Dumbledore from letting me. So I'm stuck here attempting to finish studying for my Defense O.W.L. over summer break, then I can join you in DADA!"

"Didn't you take DADA in America?" Hermione said puzzled

"Nope, those dunderheads think that there's no dark lord trying to take over the world they can drop the subject and pick it up when one does happen to show up. I got loads of detentions arguing that."

"Wait, you're studying over the summer just to take some class?" Ron asked incredulously finally looking up from his plate.

Laura arched an eyebrow at him, "Would you rather I not? I could leave you to suffer the agony of a N.E.W.T class's homework in silence?"

Ron looked horrified, "No, no, of course not. I just meant I was surprised that DADA isn't a required class. What would we do without you to cause mass chaos to get us out of homework?"

"Mr. Weasley, I do desperately hope that you are not actually encouraging Laura to cause anymore chaos than she normally does. I do not think the staff could handle it. And most of us have already dealt with both the Mauraders _and_ the Weasley twins!" Harry turned to see Professor McGonagall walking over to them with a very sever look on her face.

Ron paled and was about to start blabbing when Laura cut in saying, "Now really Professor. What on earth would make you think that I would do such a thing as causing mass chaos in class just to get out of homework?" McGonagall's eyes narrowed suspiciously and Laura added, "There are so many other, more efficient ways of getting out of homework."

"I am never going to get used to you calling me that Laura. But I swear, you cause anymore havoc than what we had last year and you'll have detention for your last two years at Hogwarts."

"Yes Professor," she answered innocently, causing McGonagall to look even more suspicious. As she turned and walked over to Dumbledore, his cousin leaned over to him and whispered, "Ginny, Neville and I were planning to restart the Marauders and were wondering if you'd join us. Think of all the havoc you could cause in Snape's class."

That thought defiantly was appealing to him. He was going to have to have something to look forward to _if_ he got into it, he still didn't know what he got. But still, it would be rather boring without the twins there to cheer them up. "Yeah, I'll do it." He said grinning.

"Oi! Remus!"

"Yes, Laura?"

"Would you happen to have that book you were telling me about? The one that you, James, and Sirius wrote?"

"Yes, but why -"

"Miss. Potter, why on earth would you be needing that particular book?" McGonagall cut in looking rather alarmed in Harry's opinion.

"Well, professor. Knowing me, what do you think that I need it for?"

This was received with a loud groan "Albus, is it to late to hand in my resignation?" Laughter burst out around the room and was still going two minutes later when an official looking owl landed in front of Laura.

Opening it she moaned and said, "Great this has got to be the best birthday present ever. They've scheduled my Defense exam for August 1."

"It's the best we could get, Laura. It was either that or July 31, and I know you would have yelled at me for that." her guardian said softly.

"I know, I know. It's just that now I won't be able to have the drinking contest Charlie challenged me to." she answered glumly.

"HE WHAT!" Mrs. Weasley yelled in sudden matriarch mode. Harry winced and waited for her to have it. Apparently she was used to Mrs. Weasley's wrath, because a moment later he saw Ron, Hermione, Ginny, and Neville getting up to leave. Laura was nowhere in sight and they were motioning for him to follow.

When they had locked themselves in the room the three boys were sharing, they passed the rest of the day catching up on everything that had happened over the summer. "So, Neville. Why are you here? Not that I'm not happy you're here. I just wasn't expecting it."

When he saw the four of them, Laura excluded, exchange hesitant looks Harry took a deep breath and said calmly, "Would you guys please stop walking on eggshells around me. I promise I won't start yelling. I did that already and got yelled at for it."

"Really?" Ron asked "Who yelled at you? I want lessons from them at not how to get scared silly when you're mad."

Laura smiled "You think Harry's bad, you should see Ada. It's down right frightening."

"Yeah well you're no walk in the park either. Last time you got annoyed with me I ended up upside down for the entire day, and that was only when you were annoyed at me!" Huffed Ron grumpily.

"Any way. Dumbledore asked me to come here for the summer after the Death Eaters managed to break through the wards he placed around Luna's house."

"They WHAT! Is she okay?" Harry asked concerned for his friend. Well, not as good a friend as the people sitting in front of him, but still a friend. And she did go with them to the Department of Mysteries last month. "Was it because of last month?"

Hermione shook her head "strangely enough it wasn't because of that. I don't think that they knew she had been there. They attacked because of Mr. Lovegood was the one to print your interview with Rita. Luna was hit with some kind of weird curse that didn't kill her, just pulverized her completely. They couldn't find a countercurse, that's what killed her. We don't know what killed her father, the Order doesn't either. It wasn't your fault, Harry. There was nothing you could have done."

"I know Hermione. But I still feel a little guilty for involving her." sighed Harry looking depressed.

"But on to happier subjects" Ron said hurriedly keen not to have a depressed Harry to deal with "Laura you said that you were joining us this year. Aren't you turning seventeen?"

"Yep, but I started a year late so you're stuck with me in all your classes. Except Potions. Even if I make it into that class (which I doubt) I won't take it."

"Why?" Neville asked curious

"Snape." She said shortly.

"Ahh," Neville said grinning, "you're not alone there. May I ask why though?"

" Can't stand the bastard, but I suppose you'll figure that out tonight."

"We will?"

Laura froze "Damn it. Oh well, you were going to find out anyway might as well tell you now. Ada's managed to convince the Order to give us a trial. That means we get to present our reasons to the Order of why we think that we should be allowed to join. You guys have it easy; all you have to do is back Harry up on what ever he decides to tell the Order. Harry and I have the hardest parts."

"And that is?" Ginny asked frowning.

"You'll find out tonight." Harry said shortly not ready to tell them the Prophecy

"Okay, we'll wait till tonight. Just remember something, both of you. Harry we've all stood by you this far, and we'll stand with you till the end. Laura, I know we've only known you for a month and Harry for not even a day, but whatever happens you're part of the group and we will stand by you no matter what." Everyone stared at Neville in shock.

"Who are you and what have you done with Neville Longbottem?" Ron demanded harshly.

"Calm down you guys, it's me. I told you I'd fight you to keep you from leaving Gryffindor tower that night you went to save the Philosopher's Stone and Hermione ended up putting me in a Full Body Bind so you could leave." Neville said blushing from all the scrutiny. "I guess facing those Death Eaters gave me the confidence I needed."

"I'll say!" Ron exclaimed slapping him on the back. "Neville's right you two. You're our friends and friends stick together no matter what. Even if you've only just joined the group." Ginny and Hermione were nodding fervently from their places on Harry's bed.

Laura was suddenly looking thoughtful, "You know, it probably is a good idea to let them know what they're getting into while they have a chance to back out. I'm sure you've learned the importance of knowing what you are getting into before you do something," when Harry still looked hesitant she added, "I'll make a deal with you; you tell them what you know then I'll tell all of you the secrets I've been hiding."

"I can't. It's too soon, I mean I'm still trying to come to terms with it."

"True as that may be, you are going to tell them sooner rather than later. Are you really willing to take the risks that come with keeping it secret. And I know for a fact that telling someone your secret helps you feel a lot better, it doesn't solve the problem, but it helps a lot."

Looking into those brilliant sapphire eyes that were even brighter than his own emerald eyes, Harry knew that she was telling the truth. It was amazing how fast she could crush an argument that he hadn't even said yet. "Alright, I'll tell you.

"You all remember the prophecy that the Death Eaters were talking about last month, right? Well I heard the prophecy."

"How Harry? We both saw the prophecy smashed and neither of us could hear it over all the noise in the background?" Neville's question was immediate and predictable.

"That was just the copy that the Ministry had. Then person who heard the prophecy has the means to recall it perfectly. Anyway, while you all were being healed in the Hospital Wing, I was in Dumbledore's office throwing a temper tantrum and breaking anything I could get my hands on."

Hermione and Neville's eyes were wide, and Ginny and Ron were sniggering, Laura said, "Yes, I saw that. You made quite the mess in there. It took Ada a while to fix everything and I think there are still a few pieces left."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Anyway, when he managed to get me to stop destroying things he told me that there had been a prophecy made about the person who would have the power to kill Voldemort. It went… um, Laura?"

"Yes Harry?"

"Could you say the prophecy for me. I don't want to …" He trailed off but she knew what he meant.

"You don't want to say it because then saying it will make it irreversible, will make it unchangeable." Miserable, Harry nodded. "The Prophecy was made from your Divination teacher to Ada. Voldemort had a spy where the interview was happening, but fortunately, the spy only heard the first part before he was thrown out. It went like this:

'_THE ONE BORN WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES.... BORN TO THOSE THAT HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES… AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWERS THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT… AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES.... THE ONE BORN WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES....'"_

Harry had been staring blindly out the window while she was saying it and was waiting for the inevitable. When it didn't happen Harry braced himself for what he thought he'd see and turned to face them. What he did see shocked him far beyond what he had been expecting.

Hermione and Ginny were looking thoughtful (though Ginny wasn't wearing Hermione's patented 'I've gotta get to the library now' look), Neville was looking sad, and Ron was looking, well, _normal_. Catching Harry staring at him he shrugged. "About time you figured it out."

"WHAT."

"Oh, come on Harry. You-Know-Who's been trying to kill you since you were a baby. I don't think he has that long of an attention span to be concentrating on just one person unless that person was really dangerous to him and he couldn't just ignore it."

"But -"

"Look Harry before you get your knickers in a twist. Anyone with even half a brain could figure out that Voldemort's had it in for you since you were little. It makes sense that it would come down to you or him, cause only you and Dumbledore have the power to kill him, and if Dumbledore could kill him he would have done it ages ago."

Everyone was staring at Ron, "When did you become so insightful, Ron? That's exactly what I was thinking." Hermione asked impressed.

"What'd you mean _when_? I've always been insightful. You have to be in order to be a good chess player. I just don't have a long attention span for the things that bore me." despite his indignant tone, it was really obvious he was pleased at the complement Hermione had given him.

"Don't you guys get it? I have to kill him or he kills me." Harry said frantically.

"Well like Ron said, You-Know-Who's been trying to kill you since for ever. You'd have to be a huge danger for him to be after you for so long." Ginny said patiently.

"But I have to _kill_ someone!" Harry said desperately trying to get them to understand that he didn't want to kill anyone, no matter how much they deserved it.

"Harry look at me." he looked up into those bright sapphire eyes of his cousin, "There is something that you need to understand; Tom Riddle, the person Voldemort used to be is dead. Voldemort killed him, and Voldemort is not human. Anyone who can take the life of anything so lightly is not human has lost the very thing that makes him human, his soul. To be stopped he has to be killed. It's unfortunate that it has to be you, but it has to be done so that everyone can be safe again, and so that you can live your life in peace.

"The fact that you do not want to kill him, no matter how badly he may deserve it is what makes you so different from him. Voldemort kills willingly and with pleasure while you would kill only to save a life. And remember, although that damned prophecy says that you are the only one that can kill him it does _not_ mean that you have to fight all the battles up to it alone, or even that you have to fight Voldemort alone, actually, just that you have to be the one to cast either the killing curse or the killing stroke."

Although his cousin's words had made him feel a lot better he still had his doubts, "But that doesn't change the fact that I have to kill."

"No it doesn't. But you can be sure that you won't be sent to Azkaban for it." Ron shook his head, "Laura you have no idea how creepy it is to hear you talking like Dumbledore."

"Ten years living with him seems to have rubbed off." she smirked "What's wrong Neville?"

"It could have been me, couldn't it?"

"Originally, yes. But you forget the last identifying part _'And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal'_. Voldemort marked me as his equal when he cast the curse that failed to kill me and marked me with this bloody scar."

"Oh, good, cause I don't think that I would have been able to do all the things that you've done. But I'm with you Harry, if you'll have me. I don't know what I can do, but if there is all you have to do is ask." This last comment was met with affirmations from Ron, Hermione, and Ginny but when Laura didn't say anything, they all looked at her.

"I'm with you… if you'll have me. But before you say anything you may want to hear what I've got to say." She took a deep breath and turned to Hermione, "How much of Potter history do you know?"

Startled, Hermione answered, "as much as I could find in the Hogwarts library. I was fascinated with Harry's defeat of Voldemort in my first year. Why?"

"Do you know who James Potter's brother, David Potter's wife was?"

"Yes, David Potter was married to Misoka Asagi." it was clear that Hermione had no idea why she was being asked these questions.

Laura sighed, "Hermione, you of all people should know what Misoka means and what language it is from."

Frowning, Hermione had that patented 'I know this, but I can't remember, but I am going to find out if it is the last thing I do' look, Harry knew that this was really bugging her. "I've got it!" she suddenly exclaimed, "Misoka means many things, among them are; 'a beginning and an end', and 'to emerge from darkness', it can also mean darkness itself and hidden talents. But…" She frowned at Laura who motioned for her to continue yet looked like she was braced for the worst. "Misoka is a demonic name."

Harry was confused, but judging from the deathly silence that followed Hermione's words, he was the only one everyone else was staring at Laura with a mixture of shock, horror, and fear in there faces. "Would someone please tell me why that is such a big deal?"

"Demonic names are only given to those with demon blood, Laura's, Akira, is a demonic name. As David Potter was her father that would mean that she is half-demon." Hermione whispered.

"And what's so bad about that?"

"Demons are one of the most feared creatures in the magical world, Harry."

He was still confused, "I still don't get it. I mean, none of you has a problem with Hagrid, who's half-giant, or Remus, who's a werewolf. It just sounds like another stupid wizarding prejudice to me." Hermione was nodding in agreement, but Laura still looked like she was waiting to hear her death sentence and Ron, Ginny, and Neville were looking fearful. "Look, you've known Laura for a month now, right?"

"Yes."

"And has she done anything horrible to you? Anything that demons are feared for?"

"No."

"Then what are you so afraid of? If she hadn't done anything to you by now then what makes you think that she'll do anything now that you know she's half-demon? Besides, Dumbledore trusts her, and if we can't trust Dumbledore then who can we trust." Harry asked being his usual blissfully ignorant self when it came to knowing about wizarding prejudices.

Slowly Ron shook his head, "I don't think I'll ever know how you can change my views on things so fast, but you're right. She's no different than Remus." He then turned to Laura, "My apologizes, I shouldn't have treated you like that, and I'm pretty sure that you get enough of that already."

The emotions playing on her face were astonishing, relief, joy, shock, and happiness were all fighting for dominance. "Forgiven. It's not like I expected to be welcomed with open arms after you've been brought up with the prejudices for sixteen years. Heck, I wasn't even expecting this." She looked at Ginny and Neville who were both nodding and offered their apologize for their reactions.

Ginny nodded and said, "Now all you have to worry about is Mum's reaction to it. You know she's come to think of you as a surrogate daughter, so does Dad. Actually, the whole family considers both of you as family. I wonder how they'll take it."

Laura groaned, "Don't remind me. There are going to be people there that have known me since I was adopted and I don't even want to _think_ about their reactions."

Neville looked at all of them and said "All who's for sticking with each other through what ever happens say 'aye'."

As "ayes" echoed around the room Ron looked at Harry, "Well mate, it looks like you're stuck with us."

Laura grinned wickedly, "Yep, and the four Marauders have got to stick together, so don't you dare even think about doing anything without us."

"WHAT! You guys are restarting the Marauders and I don't get to join?" an indignant Ron asked.

"Of course not brother dear, you are a prefect." Ginny told her brother sweetly to her moaning brother.

Harry and Laura both took turns being beaten by Ron, both too lost in their own revelations to care; Harry amazed that his friends hadn't been horrified that he would have to kill or be killed, and Laura still trying to process that she had told everyone in the room what she was and yet was still there accepted by them and not feared. Hours later, Ron finally got bored at beating the two of them and challenged them all to a game of Exploding Snap, which Harry, Ginny, and Neville agreed to; Hermione had cornered Laura and was hounding her with questions about demons.

They were in the middle of their fifth game when Mrs. Weasley called them down to dinner. And as they went down Laura reminded them all to act surprised when they found out about being invited to an Order meeting.

Dinner was a silent a fare. It seemed that Mrs. Weasley still wasn't too keen on letting her children, biological and surrogate alike, into any Order meetings as she kept shooting death glares at Remus, who was the most senior member present at dinner, Dumbledore having left earlier, and her mood seemed to be absorbed into everyone who was present making them all down cast and depressed. Without the constant chatter surrounding him, Harry fell back into doubt of what every ones reactions to the Prophecy would be. It was almost a relief to hear the doorbell ring breaking the tension that was crackling in the air, and Laura went off to answer it.

The relief lasted only until someone, probably Tonks, knocked over the troll leg in the hallway waking up Mrs. Black "TRAITORS! HALF - BLOODS! BLOOD TRAITORS! MUDBLOODS HOW DARE YOU DEFILE THE HOUSE OF MY ANSESTORS! YOU -" What ever else she was going to say was suddenly cut of by a loud BAM and in came a satisfied Laura followed by the rest of the Order staring at her in amazement.

"How did you do that, girl? It had the feel of dark magic to it." Mad – Eye Moody growled as he limped in and took a seat near the front of the room.

"That, Alastor, is what you will be finding out along with everything else that has been kept secret from you and the rest of the Order." Dumbledore said sweeping into the room with Bill and Charlie behind him. "I am sure that you six know this by now, but just incase you do not; the Order has agreed to give you a trial to see if you are worthy enough to join the Order. Will you please follow me." And with that the six crossed the threshold into the room that the Weasley twins had been trying to break into all last year.


	4. Revelations to the Order

**Chapter 4**

**Revelations to the Order**

Dumbledore surveyed those present, "This meeting has been called to judge six people who wish to join the Order of the Phoenix. You have all proven yourselves loyal to both the Order and myself and have shown extraordinary courage throughout the past year. Your job tonight is to listen to their reasons as to why they believe they should be aloud to join the Order, under aged though they are."

Ron leaned over to Harry and whispered "Fred and George don't look to happy do they?"

"No, not surprising though." Fred and George had spent all of last year trying to convince the Order to let them join and had only just joined a few weeks ago and were looking extremely annoyed that the six had gotten a trial while still under aged.

Dumbledore's voice called them back to the present, "And so I present Harry Potter, Ronald Weasley, Hermione Granger, Ginerva Weasley, Laura Potter, and Neville Longbottom to explain to the Order Representatives why they should be allowed to join."

With everyone staring at them, Harry felt like the walk up to the front of the room was even longer than the one to the room by the Great Hall in his fourth year. When they all were facing the rest of the room Dumbledore spoke up again, "Let it be known how we will proceed: Author Weasley, Molly Weasley, Alastor Moody, William Weasley, Charles Weasley, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Fred Weasley, George Weasley, and Minerva McGonagall will judge your reasons and when all is said and done they will vote. The vote must be unanimous for anyone to join. If one of them has any reasonable problems with someone then that person cannot join until all outstanding problems are solved.

"As the head of the Order of the Phoenix it is my job to make sure that no one is doing anything against the Order's code. That is all; I have already judged them and found them worthy. I assure you that if I had any problems with one of these six joining then they would not be here. Understood?"

A murmur of "Aye" could be heard from around the room, though Mrs. Weasley looked like she had been forced to drink a whole bottle of Skele-Grow. As Dumbledore sat down Ron pushed Harry to the front saying, "Laura told us to follow your lead, so you get to do all the talking, mate. You're our leader and the rest of us are just lackeys."

Glaring at his best friend Harry tried to imaging the best way to start, then remembered his cousin saying, _'They've been hounding Ada, Remus and Sirius to tell them since the Order was called back. If anything, what happened in June's made them even more desperate to know.'_ Taking a deep breath and once again gathering his famous 'Gryffindor Courage', he looked at the Order members present and asked quietly, "How many of you, besides Remus, what you spent all your time guarding last year?"

Mr. Weasley answered "We know that we were guarding something that You-Know-Who wanted very badly. More than that I am not at liberty to say in front of non-members."

This made Harry smile bitterly, "Then let me put it to you this way; how many of you know that what you were guarding from Voldemort -" everyone except Dumbledore, Remus, and Laura winced, "was a prophecy said to Albus Dumbledore telling when the person who could kill Voldemort was to be born and even how to identify him?"

Everyone looked stunned, apparently, Dumbledore had only told them what Mr. Weasley had said, Harry wasn't sure if he should be grateful or not. Moody turned to Dumbledore, "Albus is the boy saying that he knows more about something that has nothing to do with him what so ever than those that were guarding it?"

"Alastor, when you asked to know what it was exactly you were guarding I told you that it wasn't for me to tell you and that the person who could tell you would tell you when and if he was ready. I suggest you let Harry finish, he has a bigger part in this than you can imagine. Continue, Harry."

"Thank you Professor." Harry paused realizing that Laura was right. Telling them the truth was tons harder than he had first thought it would be, especially since everyone seemed to think that Dumbledore would be the one to kill Voldemort. Doubts were shooting around his mind like the Weasley's Wild Fire Wiz-Bangs Fred and George set off last year during Umbridge's reign of terror. "This is going to be really hard for me, as I only found out last month, so I need to ask for no more interruptions until I'm done.

"Sixteen years ago, Professor Dumbledore was meeting someone for the post of Divination Teacher. At the end of a rather failed interview this person cast the prophecy." He took a deep breath and continued, "It went like this:

'_THE ONE BORN WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD APPROACHES.... BORN TO THOSE THAT HAVE THRICE DEFIED HIM, BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES… AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK HIM AS HIS EQUAL, BUT HE WILL HAVE POWERS THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT… AND EITHER MUST DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES.... THE ONE BORN WITH THE POWER TO VANQUISH THE DARK LORD WILL BE BORN AS THE SEVENTH MONTH DIES....'"_

As much as Harry didn't want to see the reactions of his friends, Harry forced himself to look at those around him. Dumbledore was looking distinctly grave, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, Professor McGonagall were shocked. Fred and George were looking a lot like they had when they had discovered their father had been sent to St. Mungo's and couldn't do anything about it. Bill and Charlie had thoughtful looks on their faces. Tonks seemed to be in shock worse than anyone else there and was being held by Remus who wore a look that was identical to Laura's half-resigned half-determined look she had worn when she recited it for the six of them.

"You know Potter, that may not mean you." Moody said gruffly, the first to recover.

That caused Harry to sigh, "as much as I would like it to be true, Professor, it's not. There is no doubt that it is me. I was born as the seventh month dies, both my parents were in the Order and both had defied Voldemort -" again everyone winced, "three times. Voldemort marked me as his equal when the attack on Godric's Hollow failed and he gave me my scar. But yeah, up until then it could have also been Neville." He paused and turned to Laura, "You said your birthday was tomorrow, and were there when he died, could it be you?"

"Quick, aren't you? It took me a little longer to figure that out. But nope, you're forgetting that I'm a year older than you, so I was already born when the Prophecy was made.

"Now you've said the reason you should join. Are you going to leave the rest of us to fend for ourselves, or are you going to be nice and help us out?"

Turning back to the Order he said, "Okay, you've heard my reason, so now I'll give you theirs, as they seem to have elected me to be their spokes person." The five of them sniggered. "I am perfectly sure you all know my tendency to get into some kind of trouble involving Voldemort, and you should know that at least one of my friends ends up with me for most of it.

"Ron and Hermione have been there since the beginning, they were there for me from dealing with the Philosopher's Stone, the Chamber of Secrets in second, everything with Sirius in our third, they helped me with everything during the Tri-Wizard Tournament, and went to the Department of Mysteries last year. Ginny was a major part of the Chamber incident, and both her and Neville went with us to the Department of Mysteries without questioning me as to why we needed to go.

"Do you really want to leave them in the dark? Not to mention having to deal with them bugging you twenty-four-seven to let them join?"

When Harry had stopped talking, Dumbledore stood and said, "I think that our judges have been given enough to judge from and I believe that our members are ready to discuss their decision with each other before they make the final decision. Would the six of you please step out into the hall while you await their decision?"

It was not a request, and they knew it. All at once they left with Dumbledore following behind. On their way there Ginny whispered to Harry, "Very nice. I don't think that I have ever seen Mum at a loss for words before. You've got to teach me how to do that."

When they were all sitting Dumbledore said, "Very good Harry, I think that you have them convinced. And judging from the lack of reaction from your friends, you have told them already."

"Yes, sir, they were surprisingly supportive and told me that they'd hex me if I tried to keep anything from them."

Dumbledore beamed, his eyes twinkling madly, "Then I take it Laura has told you what she is?"

Neville looked up from the Black Family Tree, which he had been studding, "Yes Professor. We were all a little shocked and scared at first, then Harry gave us one of the most convincing lectures I have ever heard. I think it effectively cut off any and everyone of our fears and objections."

"They were. I was surprised. At the least, I had expected them to reject me, and at the most, I had expected it to take a while for them to get used to it. They were just as accepting as Uncle James and Sirius were with Remus." Laura said beaming.

"You do realize that if the Order does accept you, you are going to have to tell them?" Dumbledore asked seriously.

The smile on his charges face disappeared faster than you could say 'Quidditch', "I am, aren't I? I guess I had better be ready to deal with their reactions." she sighed dejectedly, the look of her depression was enough to make everyone else depressed.

"Don't worry, Laura. Mum and Dad won't care, if they could accept Remus then I'm sure that they'll accept you, after all, I did say they're starting to think of you as their daughter. Fred and George will think it's cool, and Bill and Charlie are the most accepting people I know, plus I think all of them are staring to see you as a younger sister." Ginny said bracingly.

"And if they don't? I do not think that anyone will react any differently from everyone else I've told.

"That is not quite true, Laura. Minerva didn't treat Remus any differently and she already suspects that there is something different about you. Remus already knows and even if he didn't he wouldn't reject you. He knows too much about the segregation laws that surround half-breeds. I do not think that there is much to worry about." Dumbledore said softly, the twinkle vanishing from his eyes and looking very concerned."

"I can't stand the suspense; if I'm gonna have to tell them, it might as well be before they make their decision. I really don't want to be accepted into the Order to be put under suspicion five minutes after," sighed Laura, glumly.

"Are you sure? I'm not forcing you to, and no one else is."

She looked like she was pronouncing her own death sentence, "I'm sure."

"Then all of you follow me."

Then silence in the kitchen was broken by Charlie saying, "I think they should be let in. I mean, keeping them in the dark is going to do them a lot more harm than good, plus from what I hear, the Order finds out more from them than they do from us."

"I agree. They've been force to act like adults since they first started Hogwarts and they should be treated like adults." Bill agreed.

"But, if we let them join then we will be putting them in even more danger than before." Mrs. Weasley said frantically.

"Not true, Molly. In their first year Potter, Weasley, and Granger not only figured out that the Philosopher's Stone was at Hogwarts, but also how where it was, that someone was trying to steal it, _and_ how to get past everything that was guarding it. In addition, they figured it out without any help from any of the staff besides the unintentional hints that Hagrid let slip. I think that they are more than eligible to join." Professor McGonagall said, torn between being proud of her students and disgust at herself for not believing then when they had come to her, a mistake that had almost cost Potter his life.

"How do we even know that the prophecy is true, and not just something that You-Know-Who made up to confuse us?" Author asked.

"Because the prophecy has already been fulfilled. Harry was born as the seventh month dies, was marked by Voldemort as his equal at Godric's Hollow, and has survived more encounters with Voldemort than anyone else I know of. And because the said person also made one more prophecy fourteen years later to Harry. This prophecy said that the dark lord's servant would be freed to rejoin his master, and the dark lord would rise 'greater and more terrible than ever before.' Than night the servant was both found and freed, one year later Voldemort was reborn."

"Peter" Remus breathed softly. "Was it -?" He looked Dumbledore, who nodded in confirmation. "Damn him to the pits of hell."

"Potter and his friends can join, but I'm not letting Laura in without knowing what 'secret' she's hiding and why what ever spell she cast at that painting felt like dark magic." Moody said, as stubborn and as paranoid as ever.

Dumbledore frowned, "Alastor, you've known Laura for almost ten years. I would think that you would have more trust in her than that."

"One can never be too careful Albus. You should know that."

"Yes, but I am warning you, although Laura is willing to show you before you make your decision, I do not think that it is big enough to sway your decision to allow the six to join. If you have no problems with Remus, then I see no reason for you to have any problems with Laura," he answered cryptically before exiting to let the children know, "Remus will tell you what you need to know while I get them."

All eyes turned to Remus, "What did he mean by that?"

Remus shook his head, "That is not for me to tell you. All I can say is that the reason she started school in America is that there are no segregation laws. The beginning of her life was a hell that no one here could possibly imagine. Laura is scared stiff that you will abandon her the moment she tells you."

'What could possibly be so bad that Laura would be scared to tell us?' Mrs. Weasley wondered, 'It would have to truly be horrible for someone who can face You-Know-Who and come away with only getting his with a minor curse to be that scared.' In that moment she resolved that she would not abandoned the girl she had come to love as one of her own.

Everyone was lost in their own thoughts and thus missed the look on the Transfiguration teacher. A thoughtful look also said that she knew more than what Remus had said.

"What could be so bad that could possibly make us hate her? Is she a werewolf?" Fred asked breaking everyone's train of thought.

"No, she can't be. We met her on a full moon, remember?" George said looking uncharacteristically grim.

"Shut up you two, here they come." Bill said as Dumbledore walked in followed by Laura flanked by Harry, Ron, and Hermione on one side, and Ginny and Neville on the other.

As they walked back from the drawing room, Harry watched his cousin closely; she seemed to get tenser with every step they took closer to the kitchen. This made Harry wonder what kinds of laws the wizards placed on half-breeds; it had to be truly horrible for it to make the girl so scarred to tell anyone that she was half-demon. Acting on impulse, Harry gave her a hug right before they entered the kitchen, "Don't worry about it. If anyone gives you a bad time about it we'll hex them into next week, won't we, guys?"

Everyone nodded and Ron added, "We'll stick with you no matter what. After all, that's what family's for, though I warn you, Fred and George are probably going to be begging you to help them with some of their experiments later."

Laura gave them a weak smile, "Thanks guys. This means a lot to me." And with that, they entered the room to what Laura thought was her doom.

Once they had entered, Moody seemed to go into automatic questioning mode, "Okay, girl, Albus tells us that you have something to tell us." Harry noted that he said this a little harsher than he probably should have.

Not looking anyone in the eye, eyes fixed on a spot over Moody's shoulder, Laura shook her head, "Not tell; show." she said this so quietly many people had to move closer to hear her, and the fact that she didn't comment on being called 'girl' made many people nervous. Laura hated being called 'girl'.

"Well then show us, come on. We don't have all day."

Laura sighed and darkness seemed to envelop her, as if she was covered in shadows. Harry could see that she was growing taller and a power seemed to be softly radiating from it. Many people in the room gasped when the darkness vanished and Harry could see why; in his cousin's place was a fully-grown demon. Although he knew that every demon had a second form he hadn't thought she would look like this; her shoulder length hair had grown to reach her waist, and with every small movement, sapphire shimmers went through her hair. She was taller than she had been, about six foot instead of the 5' 7" she normally was, Harry also noted with interest that her ears were longer than humans', they also pointed and that her clothes seemed to have transformed into robes of a deep sapphire blue to match her eyes. Overall, Laura was beautiful.

As if she had read his thoughts, Laura looked at him, her eyes holding all the fear and pain she held in her soul, and said, "It's one of our many curses. We are either extraordinarily beautiful, or exceedingly ugly; yet another thing that we are hated for." The anguish in her eyes was enough to make Harry walk up to her and hug her. To his surprise, Neville followed Harry, and after hugging her he asked her, "Is this really you, or are you like Remus? Normally human, but forced to change against your will."

Laura's answer wasn't one anyone had been expecting, "No, the form you usually see is the form demons usually take, especially to blend in with humans. What you see now is a reflection of my soul. As you can probably see it is a lot harder to hide our emotions in this form because of it. We never show this side of us because when we do we are rejected and are forced to follow all the laws set up to 'protect wizard kind from the horrors that those _creatures_ love to inflict.' Go ahead and scream if you want, or yell. I'm used to it by now"

Mrs. Weasley was shocked at the bitterness in her voice yet she also saw what lay beneath it, Remus was right to say she was scared, it was written all over her. The completely lost look that seemed to echo around the room was enough to make the Weasley matriarch squash the rejection and hatred that had first come up within her and she said softly, "Laura, look at me. Yes it's true that I am afraid, I won't lie to you. But if you are willing to teach me like Remus did, then I am willing to learn that my fears aren't founded."

This time Laura didn't even bother trying to conceal the emotions playing across her face, and Harry saw shock, then disbelief, then as she realized that she spoke the truth, joy and pure happiness overcome her and everyone in the room knew that Mrs. Weasley had done the right thing.

"Thank you." the relief in her voice was overwhelming. She looked at everyone else, she already knew what her cousin and her friends decisions were but she needed to know what everyone else was thinking. Laura didn't bother looking at Remus, she had known his answer since he had recognized her when Dumbledore had first adopted her, and the smiles on the Weasley family's faces was answer enough for her. All who were left was McGonagall and Moody. She chose to look at McGonagall first

McGonagall was smiling, "If teaching and looking after a werewolf for seven years didn't teach me to be open minded then those seven years were a waste of time. Besides, I knew you too well when you were little to not already know who and what you are."

Laura's eyes widened in astonishment, "You knew?"

"Of course I knew. I spent too much time trying to keep you out of trouble when David and Misoka went out on Order missions. And I must say, I was shocked when I first saw you after so long, you had changed so much I almost didn't recognize you."

Hermione saw Laura's eyes darken like they did when she was trying to control her emotions, walked over to her, and squeezed her hand. When Laura cocked her head at her, she nodded and let go of her hand so that Laura could transform back.

When the darkness faded, they all realized that Dumbledore must have placed some kind of illusion charm on her hair to hide the blue shimmering in her hair. After looking over at Remus, who smiled sadly and shook his head, she said quietly, "Fudge found me two days after Harry had already gone to live with the Dursleys. He recognized who I was and decided to punish me, a half-breed, for 'surviving when the savior's mother and father did not.'"

Moody, who had so far been emotionless, suddenly looked shocked, as did Kingsley and Tonks, "He didn't!"

"He did." Dumbledore said curtly.

"Did WHAT?" the twins chorused voicing every ones question, except Remus who had a stony look on his face.

"Fudge decided to punish me because I had survived and Lily and James didn't. He didn't care that my parents did not survive because Mum was a demon and Dad married a demon." Laura said in an emotionless voice

"What did he do to you?" Mr. Weasley asked as if afraid to know the answer. He knew how harsh Fudge could be.

Kingsley was about to answer when Laura shot him a warning look, "You'll find out when she's ready to tell you."

Apparently this was all she could take, as Harry saw her struggle with her emotions, it was a battle he fought plenty of times. He watched, wondering how she would deal with it. He didn't have to wait long as the next moment she spun around and stormed out the door only to be pulled back in by her guardian with a wave of his wand. "You can go when the Order says you can Laura, not before. But I don't think that you need worry about being rejected by anyone in this room, or you Harry, for that matter."

"Of course not! At least not by us. We know the risks we take by being Harry's friend, being yours is no different, and we are willing to take them. We swore we would stick together, and if either of you try and back out I will personally hex you into next week." Hermione said fiercely.

"But I don't want you to get hurt." Harry said desperately trying to get everyone to understand that being around him could and probably would get them killed.

"Harry, you idiot. I already told you you're stuck with us until you die. There's no way you're getting away from us if you don't want to be on the receiving end of my Bat Boggie Hex," Ginny said scowling, "How many times do we need to pound it into your head that you – are – not – getting – rid – of us!?"

Harry looked at Ron and Neville, who he realized, was looking a lot like he had that night they had had to leave him petrified on the common room floor. "As glad as I may be that I'm not the one that has to kill You-Know-Who, the least I can do is be there for you when ever you need me."

"But -"

"Damn it Harry, we've been through this already! We are not going anywhere. You are stuck with us until either you or us gets killed." Ron practically yelled, "I know I've been a prat in the past, but I'm still your friend and you're gonna need all the friends you can get."

"He's right you know;" Laura said looking like she had finally accepted that she wasn't going to be thrown out on the streets and now was looking slightly amused at the helpless look on his face, "Give in now before you make me do something both of us will regret. Cause I can guarantee you that I'm not going anywhere. And getting on the bad side of all six of us is not a good idea."

"We're not either abandoning you either. I promised myself that I would look after you when I first met you, and I intend to keep that promise." Mrs. Weasley said fiercely as if daring anyone to contradict her, the rest of the Weasley family nodding in agreement.

"And I made a promise to Sirius that if anything happened to him I'd look out for you. As I have no intention of being haunted every night you're stuck with me as well, cub." Remus said smiling.

"You have us too. Fudge is still being a jerk and most of the Ministry is following him, but we're with you." Tonks said.

Kingsley added, "We're trying to keep the Ministry from finding out that Sirius died as that would mean Fudge will try to seize every thing that belonged to him. We think that Sirius left the majority of his things to you, but we won't know for certain until the reading of the will."

"That's nine down, and only three more to go including Dumbledore in less than two hours. It's gotta be a record. No one's ever been accepted this fast." Laura whispered in Ginny's ear, who grinned and nodded.

McGonagall shrugged, "I've seen what you can do both in and out of school. Who am I to stop you from receiving the protection that may end up saving your lives?"

Ron whispered to Harry, "Did McGonagall just shrug?" shocked that his transfiguration teacher would use such an undignified gesture. But Harry wasn't paying attention to him, he was half in shock that all these people would be willing to have anything to do with him, especially since they now knew the consequences that came with him. Moody's voice pulled him out of his stupor:

"I know this is tuff for you, not even out of school yet knowing that you have the weight of the world on your shoulders. If you ever need help with auror training, send me an owl.

"And Laura? I apologize for being so harsh with you. Old habits die hard you know."

She smiled, "Yes Moody, I know."

Harry looked at Dumbledore, the last person standing in the way of them joining the Order of the Phoenix. What he saw surprised him; gone was the mask that only showed happiness and a few other emotions. His headmaster's face could be read like a book, happiness and sadness were there, also mixed with apprehension. "Harry, I am not going to stop you or you're friends from joining the Order of the Phoenix. In fact, I encourage it. I know that I have greatly damaged our relationship by keeping things from you, and I want you to know that I have learned from my mistakes and it will not happen again… If you will let me, I would like to try to earn your trust and your friendship back if you'll let me."

He was shocked. Not only was an apology the last thing he was expecting, but he could see that the headmaster had meant every word of it. Harry stood there not sure of what he should do.

Catching his dilemma Laura rolled her eyes and pushed her cousin toward her mentor, who caught him in a hug.

Stunned Harry just stood there for a moment unused to his headmaster's unusual display of affection before hugging him back. "Apology accepted," he whispered.

At those words, a golden light started emitting from Harry to surround everyone present. Hearing his friends gasp, Harry turned to see that while everyone else was wrapped in gold light his friends were each surrounded by their own color light. Ginny's was red, Ron's was sky blue, Neville's was bronze, Hermione's was a deep ocean blue, and Laura's was a silvery black. Feeling a sudden warmth around him, Harry looked down to see that he was surrounded by silver light. Yet just as suddenly as the light had come the light was being absorbed into the body of who ever it was surrounding. When the light had almost been fully absorbed everyone felt a burning sensation on a different part of their body. Then everything stopped.

Neville was looking fearful, "What just happened?"

Laura was grinning, "Well cousin, if what just happened is what I think it is then Harry' s just got himself a whole new family."

"Hu?"

"Very intelligent, Mr. Potter. You keep this up and you just may pass into first year charms." Laura said rolling her eyes, "Remus I thought you said that the boy was smart?"

"He was three years ago. Maybe all those bludgers to the head have finally taken affect."

"Hey! For your information the last time I was hit by a bludger was a year before I met you."

Dumbledore stepped in before things got out of hand, "What I believe happened, and I think Laura agrees, was the Binding Magick on the Eternity level." All the adults in the room gasped, but the teens and the twins looked confused, even Hermione didn't know what that meant.

"Would someone mind telling us what that means?" Hermione asked looking very annoyed that she didn't know what the adults were talking about.

"The Binding Magic is very rare, the most common form being the soul mate bond which in itself is rare. Next is the Slave Bond, which is dark magic, I believe that Voldemort has managed to use it to bind the Death Eaters to him. The last form, the Eternity Level, is so rare that there are precious few facts known about it.

"One is that there are two circles, the inner or first circle, and the outer or second circle. Each individual member is some how bonded to the others, but how is not known." Dumbledore said deep in thought trying to remember what he had read about it, "There is also a specific number for both the first and second circles, but I can only remember that the first circle has five members besides Harry."

"Why me?"

"Because you, in some form or other, are the reason we are here. And you are the one that we all pledged to serve. Consider it a binding magical contract for life. There's no getting out of it."

Harry moaned, "So I'm stuck with you guys?"

"Sounds like it, mate. Why do you sound so depressed about it?" Ron asked confused.

"Just ignore him, Ron. Harry's just being his usual Gryffindor self. He'll get over it eventually, although," Ginny said grinning wickedly, "if he takes to long we may have to help him."

Harry winced, "I think I'd rather get over it by myself, thank you very much."

Mrs. Weasley cut in before Ginny could answer, "Okay, that's enough. I want all six of you in bed now. You have a long day tomorrow and I want you up at seven. Go!" and she started herding them out of the room. The Order members took this as their queue to leave and all at once left leaving behind Dumbledore and Laura, who had somehow managed to avoid being forced out by the Weasley matriarch.

She looked at the headmaster with an accusing glare, "You didn't tell them."

He looked at her, "Tell them what?" he asked calmly.

"There are thirteen members of the outer circle, there were only twelve present."

"I know. I want to wait until I know both how to identify the members of each circles, but also who the last member of the circle is.

"Now if I am not mistaken when Mrs. Weasley said 'the six of you' I am almost positive that that included you. You may want to be in bed when Mrs. Weasley gets back down, or the both of us will have to face her wrath."

"I'm going, I'm going." And as Laura walked up to join the others Dumbledore disappeared with a POP.


	5. Harry's Birthday Surprise

**Chapter 5**

**Harry's B-Day Bash Surprise**

"Up." The voice cut through Harry's sleep like a razor sharp knife. Moaning, Harry rolled over and buried his face in his pillow. "Mister Potter, if you do not get up right this minute I will be forced to take drastic measures."

" 'ust 'ive 'inutes," Harry managed to mumble through the pillow.

"No, I will not give you five extra minutes, as you so eloquently asked for. Now get up."

'Odd, Harry thought, that voice sounded suspiciously like Snape.' Turning his head ever so slightly to the side, Harry cracked one eye open and glared at the offender… at least, until he saw that it _was_ Snape standing at his bedside, glaring at him.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Harry yelled, jumping out of bed and tripping in the sheets in his haste to flee the feared potions master. When Harry finally got untangled from the comforter Snape had vanished and Tonks and Laura were standing in his place. Looking harder, Harry saw that the bundle Laura was carrying a silvery bundle, which, on closer inspection, was actually an invisibility cloak, and Tonks was looking very pleased with herself. "Damn metamorphagus." He grumbled causing them to laugh, "What was that for?"

"You've been almost the whole day and Molly was starting to get worried. She asked us to come and escort you to the Burrow for dinner as everyone else is already there." Tonks said, grinning.

"We already tried waking you the usual way, but that didn't work, so we had to do the unusual way. It seemed to work very well too." Laura added smirking. "Now if you'll be so kind as to grace us with your presence and get out of bed, we can get moving and devour Mrs. Weasley's excellent cooking."

Growling and mumbling curses under his breath, Harry slowly started to get dressed and within twenty minutes was following Tonks and Laura down the stairs towards the kitchen. Tonks went first with Laura going after him saying, "After you, oh savior of the world."

Too busy glaring at her to notice, he had already entered the room before he noticed that not only was the room pitch black but that the door behind him was shut and locked. Harry pulled out his wand and muttered 'Lumos' only to be blinded by the brilliant light that engulfed the room. When his eyes adjusted to the light he saw that Tonks and Laura had lied. Everyone wasn't at the Burrow, they were right in front of him dressed for a party!

Harry was suddenly caught in a rib cracking hug and his vision obscured by Hermione's trademark 'Hermione-I-can't-breath' hug and the tirade of questions and comments that followed it, "Do you like it? I hope you do. We've spent all day working on it. Are you mad about the sleeping potion? I hope not. It was the only way to make sure you wouldn't burst in on us."

"Hermione-I-can't-breath," Harry gasped out.

"Oh, sorry."

"That's okay. And no I don't like it…" everybody's face fell causing Harry to laugh, "I **love** it. This is the best birthday I've ever had!" he paused as the rest of Hermione's gibberish sank in, "Hang on… where'd you get the sleeping potion." Harry was suddenly very suspicious and hoping that his suspicions weren't true.

"We um, well we uh…"

"Ron, Ginny, and Neville nicked the potion from Snape's lab here. Hermione and I slipped it into your drink last night when you weren't looking." Laura said after it was apparent Hermione wasn't going to answer the question.

"YOU NICKED THE POTION FROM _SNAPE_! How the bloody hell do you know that it wasn't poison!" Harry exploded, his worst fears confirmed, also completely drowning out the adults saying "_Professor_ Snape, Harry."

Neville winced, "well, how else were we supposed to keep you from walking in on us?"

Sighing, Harry turned to Professor Dumbledore who was sitting in a corner next to Professor McGonagall, "Please tell me that you didn't know about this, sir."

Laura cut in before he could answer, "Not only did he know about it, he also told us which potion would be best to use." She leaned over to whisper in his ear, "McGonagall helped too, but she'd murder me if she knew I told you."

Harry's eyes went round. Professor McGonagall, the strictest teacher on the planet, had helped students steal! And from another Professor too? Harry couldn't believe it. What was the world coming too.

Unfortunately, McGonagall had heard Laura's whispered comment to Harry, and was in the process of giving her a sound scolding. But from the look on Laura's face, it wasn't having much of an affect. It seemed that not only had she heard this particular lecture before, she had heard it from the Transfigurations teacher loads of times. "And how, pray tell, young lady, did you get in here? I charmed the door to lock as soon as Harry walked through it."

The look on Laura's face was the most mischievous look Harry had ever seen. "Marauder's privilege, my dear Professor… Let's just say that being seventeen helps a lot."

McGonagall groaned, "Oh wonderful, just what she needs, another way to cause havoc in school. Albus, haven't you learned anything in raising her, or at least from her school record? She doesn't need another way to help her in her life long goal of breaking the Marauders' record of how many pranks she can pull without getting caught."

Laura scowled, "I resent that. My school record is tons better than the Marauders and not that much worse than Fred and George."

"That may be true, but neither group managed to get half as far as you in pranking by yourself."

Mrs. Weasley cut in before their argument broke out into a full out fight. "That's enough you two. Dinner is ready and if you two don't stop dinner will get cold."

Dinner was served in a buffet line and when everyone had gotten in line Harry found himself standing next to his Transfiguration teacher, "Good evening, Professor. How are you feeling?"

"Good evening Potter. I am doing a lot better thank you very much. And you?"

Some how Harry knew she wasn't talking about his physical health, "Better Professor. I was 'still moping around feeling sorry for myself', as Laura put it, yesterday morning so she knocked some sense into me."

"Ah, I see. And by 'she knocked some sense' into you I take it she lost her temper and started yelling at you?"

"Yeah, although, now that I think about it I needed it otherwise I'd still be sulking. But I'm not so sure she needed to yell at me."

"You had best start getting used to it. It usually takes a lot to make Laura lose her temper, but when she does, look out or you'll get caught in a storm you will be wishing you had avoided."

"HEY! I heard that!" Laura called from her seat at the table.

Harry laughed at her causing a bread roll to go soaring at his head. "LAURA! No throwing food!"

"Yes, Professor," Laura answered all innocence.

"Professor," Harry said thoughtfully as a sudden thought entered his mind, "will you be returning to teach next term?"

McGonagall looked shocked for a moment before answering, "Yes, Potter, I shall be returning next term. Why do you ask?"

"Because for a moment I was afraid you weren't, and I am very relieve that you are. Although I am sure you will be robbing some students in Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor of their new found favorite past time."

"And that would be?"

Harry smirked, "I think it's called something like -"

"It's called 'Plotting to Kill the Toad for Revenge.' We made it up the night you were stunned, and it was an immediate success. Only a few students tried to put a stop to it." Ron called looking up from stuffing his face with food.

"And I do hope, Mr. Weasley, that you were one of the students that was helping Miss. Granger to stop the game."

Neville started laughing, "Actually, Professor, Hermione was one of the people who started it. She was absolutely livid with Umbridge after that and was barely civil to her." Hermione blushed. She had been really proud of the game at the time, but now she realized that she should have not encouraged her fellow students.

"Really, Miss. Granger, I expected better from you." The Transfiguration teacher was looking sternly at Hermione but everyone could tell she was pleased.

"Oi! Hurry up, up there! You're holding up the line!" Fred called from the end of the line earning a glare from his former Head of House before moving to the table.

Two hours later when Harry was sure he would burst if he had to eat one more piece of food and even Ron was full, Mrs. Weasley vanished the food and banished the dishes to the kitchen before summoning a huge pile of presents from the adjoining room.

Harry's jaw dropped, "Are – are – are those all for me?" he finally managed to stammer.

Laura rolled her eyes, "Of course they're for you. Who else would they be for?"

This mad Harry frown, he knew that it was also Laura and Neville's birthday and he had been hoping that they would be able to celebrate their birthday as well. But before he could say anything Hermione cut in, "Well that's not quite true. Some of them are also for you and Neville."

Laura and Neville looked stunned, "B-but it's Harry's birthday." Neville stammered.

Ginny giggled, "Honestly Neville, did you really think that we would celebrate Harry's birthday and not yours?"

"Quite arguing and open just open them before we return them and get our money back." George called earning him a smack on his head from his mother but effectively cutting off any arguments coming from the two.

With Ron Handing out the presents, Harry started opening them. He received a Golden Snitch from Charlie, and a Quidditch model from Bill. Hermione stuck with what she knew and gave Harry a set of books on D.A.D.A., Ron and Ginny gave Harry a stack of parchment that acted like muggle wakie talkies except you wrote on them instead if talking. Tonks and Kingsley gave Harry their old Auror training books. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley gave Harry another Weasley sweater, and Fred and George gave everyone a box filled with merchandise from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes.

Moody had given all three of them wand holsters that could be strapped to the wand arm, and once sheathed; the wand could only be unsheathed by whoever was wearing the holster at the time. The wand would disappear, giving the impression that the wearer was unarmed and would reappear with a flick of the wrist. "So you're wand will stay out of your back pocket." He claimed.

Professor McGonagall's gift to them was surprising. She gave each of them a different book on becoming an Animagi. Everyone stared at her, causing her to shrug and say that she would rather they did it under supervision than by themselves as they were bound to do some time this year.

Dumbledore gave Harry a pensive saying that he would show him how to use it later.

Remus' gift was to the 'New Marauder' as he called them, and was received with mixed reactions. It was a book that at first glance looked like a harmless text book but when Harry opened it to the title page it read _'The Marauders Guide to Surviving Hogwarts: Everything you need to know from pranks to annoying the crap out of teacher.'_

Laura, who had been reading over Harry's shoulder, let out a huge whoop and started dancing around the room. "YES! I knew you were a true Marauder at heart!"

"Well Harry, are you going to go crazy like your cousin, or are you going to be nice and tell us what it is before going crazy?"

Harry looked up from skimming the book, a wicked grin forming on his face, "The book's called _'The Marauders Guide to Surviving Hogwarts: Everything you need to know, from pranks to annoying the crap out of teachers.'_"

"REMUS JONH LUPIN!" Remus cringed as his former teacher's wrath decended upon him. "You did not just give them another tool to aid them in causing trouble! Don't you think they get into enough as it is?"

Despite her serious tone, the look of despair on McGonagall's face and the abashed look in Remus' caused everyone to laugh and Ginny to reassure the desperate Transfigurations teacher, "Don't worry, Professor, we won't us it to pull any pranks on teachers," Ginny paused then amended, "Well, _most_ teachers. I can't make any promises that we'll leave a certain teacher alone."

"Say Remus, you wouldn't happen to know the Marauders, would you?" Fred asked gazing at the book longingly.

"Know the Marauders?" Harry asked, feigning a lock of surprise, "Moony, you mean to tell me that you haven't told them?"

"Well why didn't you, my dear Prongs Jr.?" Remus shot back

"Because I thought it best to leave it up to one of the original Marauders to tell them. Not a junior member like myself."

Fred and George were watching the exchange with their mouths open, "Y – your Moony? Then… that would make James… Prongs… and Padfoot would be… Sirius? And Wormtail would be -." George was the first to catch on, "Please, please, please say he wasn't." Slowly, Remus, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Laura shook their heads sadly. "The little -" The twins were horrified that one of their idols was a Death Eater.

This didn't last long though, as it was impossible for the twins to remain serious for any long periods of time, and they danced their way over to Remus and began hounding him for tales of the Marauders' many adventures at Hogwarts. Remus eyed them as if he had something to say but was debating if he should say it. Finally, he said mildly, "I was a prefect and charged with the tiresome task of controlling the rest of the group."

The twins were crushed, "And Prongs?"

"Was Head Boy."

"Padfoot?" They looked afraid to know the answer.

Remus sighed looking at McGonagall then said, "Was completely authority free."

"YES! At least one of you had your priorities straight!"

"That's what he said when James got the Head Boy badge. Anyway, you needn't ask me. There's a record of every prank we ever pulled in there. Sirius insisted on it."

They froze, eying the book and said in unison, "We want that book."

"I never thought I'd hear them say that," Mrs. Weasley said, "And I certainly didn't expect to be saying this: You may not have that book!"

"But Mum -"

"No, 'but Mum' me. You may not have that book!"

The look of dismay on the twin's faces was so comical that the room burst out laughing. After a nod from Harry, Laura used this as a cover to slip the book to the twins from under the table. "Is that all?" Harry asked when the laughter had died down.

"Nope. My turn!" Laura called jumping up and hurrying out of the room only to come back levitating tow cases in front of her. "Right, now lets see… this one's yours, Neville, and I think this one is Harry's." She said completely ignoring the protests coming from them. "You'll know if I mix it up as the cases will only open for the person their intended for. Oh quit complaining and just open them!"

Still scowling and grumbling, Harry grudgingly opened the case only to have the smirk wiped right off his face. Inside there was a full set of muggle weapons including two swords, two long knives, a dagger, and many other weapons that Harry couldn't name, all of the finest make. Glancing at Neville, Harry saw that his friend had received the same thing with different design and make.

Looking up at Laura, Harry started to thank the demon girl when she cut him off. "They were your fathers' along time ago. Original Order of the Phoenix stuff. It took me ages to find all them and I had to go search through the ruins of Godric's Hollow to find Uncle James' and Aunt Lily's. Be careful." she said as Neville started to unsheathe one of his long knives, "those blades are really sharp."

Neville nodded and went on inspecting the blades as Moody asked, "And how, pray tell are they going to learn how to use them?"

Laura raised an elegantly shaped eyebrow, "Are you saying, Alastor, that I am not capable of teaching them?"

"Well, can you prove it?"

"Alastor." Dumbledore said warningly, but nobody believed him due to the twinkle in his eyes. Harry personally thought that he was looking forward to the inevitable battle that was coming.

Laura was also amused, "Try me."

"Stupefy!"

Laura reacted faster than anything Harry, or anyone except Dumbledore, had ever seen. One moment she was sitting on the bench leaning against the table perfectly relaxed and the next she had flipped out of her seat, over the table and was using the momentum from the leap to roll on the ground to where Moody stood, sending curse after curse at her. Harry watched in fascination as Laura slipped behind him and bring a long knife that appeared out of nowhere to Moody's neck. The room went deftly still.

"Is that adequate enough for you? Am I qualified enough to train the new members of the Order?"

Grudgingly, Moody nodded, peeved that a seventeen year old girl could beat him! an accomplished auror. "That was great. I've never seen anyone move that fast. How do you do it? A reflex spell?"

"No, it's one of the perks of being half-demon."

"That's enough fighting for today. I want the six of you in bed now, and yes Laura, I mean you too. You have your Defense O.W.L tomorrow and you'll need to have a good night sleep before you leave. And -"

"Not yet Molly. There's one more order of business that needs to be taken care of before these six turn in." Dumbledore interrupted as they got up to leave.

Harry was suddenly wary. After five years of knowing the headmaster he had learned that that tone meant something very serious. "What is it?"

"Sirius' Will." Harry paled. "I know that this isn't something one usually wants done on ones birthday, but Sirius requested that it be done today." Dumbledore paused looking for something in his robes and pulled out a gray globe. "Is everyone ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be." Remus said softly, looking ashen.

"Very well then; I must warn those of you who don't know that this is a memory globe that will play an image of Sirius saying his will. Please remember that this is just a memory, a recording, if you will, and as such, he cannot hear or see you… Here we go." Dumbledore activated the globe and Sirius was suddenly standing in the middle of them.

"Well this is a surprise. I certainly wasn't expecting to die this early in my uneventful life. But as Prongs and Moony always said, "You do too many crazy and thoughtless things, Padfoot, to even consider living as long as Dumbledore."

Everyone turned to stare at Remus, who just shrugged and said, "it's true." before they turned back to the memory of Sirius.

"Anyway, to get the boring stuff out of the way…" he paused as he puffed himself to look like a strutting roster, "I Sirius Orion Black, being sound of mind (Remus and McGonagall snorted) and body, do hereby bequeath 10 of the Black Family Fortune to the Weasley (Mrs. Weasley fainted) family in thanks and gratitude for always being there for Harry when I could not, and even when I was. Though we had our disagreements, I have always considered you friends and I hope you will take this without too much of a fight. May you become as wealthy as you are loved.

"Another 10 is to be set aside in another vault for Albus Dumbledore and a select group to use in their efforts to rid the world of evils such as Voldemort. There you go Albus, I have no idea what else to give you as you seem to have plenty of everything, so I am hoping that this is enough to fund what ever the Order needs.

"To Minerva McGonagall…" the transfiguration teacher looked shocked, "I know that I was a pain and a headache to you during our years at school, but I hope that what I am leaving you helps cover some of the debt along with my most sincere apologies for giving you a constant headache; I, Sirius Black, do hereby grant Minerva McGonagall, the last remaining member of her family, the compensation payments that was ordered by the Ministry and my mother refused to do, which should be 5 of the Black Family fortune. And I do hope you can forgive me." McGonagall looked like she was going to cry, then suddenly she smiled and it made her look 10 years younger.

"Moony, my old friend, I'm leaving you 20 of the Black Family Fortune so you'll never have to worry about getting a job again. And get some new robes for Merlin's sake! I'm sick and tired of seeing you in rags. And one last piece of advice; just ask her out already. The worst she can do is say no, and from the way she talks about you non-stop, trust me, she won't.

"And last, but not least… my dear godson, Harry Potter, and my goddaughter, Laura Potter." Laura froze, shock written all over her face. "Yes, Little Shadow, I know you're alive and keeping the Marauder spirit alive and well. After all, I'm not a Marauder for nothing, you know. Anyway… I'm leaving the two of you the last 55 of the Black Family vault, as well as everything else that I own including Grimmuld Place. You probably want to search the house, as I know my mother has another vault hidden somewhere around here. I just don't know where it is as she never let me anywhere near it…

"Oh! And before I forget; the Potter Vault is yours today as well, which is why I wanted the will read today. All of this was official the moment the words were spoken, and the money and other stuff was transferred to your vault or a new vault was created. You will need to go to Gringots and get the keys some time this summer." A soft ding went off in the background, "Oops, sorry guys. I'm out of time Have fun in life and make the Marauders proud.

"Oh! And Harry, if I ever hear that you're feeling sorry for yourself I swear I will come back and haunt you." And he was gone.

Remus was, if possible, even more ashen than before and Harry had his fists clenched so tight that he was drawing blood. There was a moment of silence before everyone started leaving the room either to go home or to get ready for bed.

Slowly, Harry made his way to the room he was sharing with Ron and Neville, too wrapped up in keeping his emotions under wraps that he didn't notice the hand on his shoulder gently guiding him to a different room. Harry didn't even realize there was someone else in the room until the door closed the door behind him.

"It's okay to cry, you know." Laura's soft voice ripped through any self-control he had left. As soon as one tear left, a flood of them followed; he collapsed on the bed sobbing uncontrollably.

Without a word Laura sat down beside him and pulled him into a hug. Harry tensed, unsure how to react to being hugged, yet unable to stop the flow of tears. As he slowly relaxed into the hug, Laura whispered "Ah, what a pair we make, eh, cousin? You losing everyone you love, and me being locked in a cell for five years."

After a while, when Harry was able to gain control of his emotions he pushed himself away, "I'm sorry, I -"

Laura held a finger to his lips. "Don't be. As I said before; it is perfectly fine to cry."

"But isn't it wrong? Isn't it wrong to stop crying? And isn't it wrong to have fun? Because it means that I'm getting over Sirius, and that he doesn't matter?"

"It's not wrong to cry and it isn't wrong to stop crying. And no, it is not wrong to have fun and to laugh because you are not getting over Sirius, you are just accepting that he is gone. Sirius will never truly die unless he is forgotten. Sirius will always matter as long as he matters to you.

"Eventually you will find that you can't cry, that you can't bring yourself to care _enough_ to cry. That you have hardened so much that it takes a great deal to make you cry. That you are too world-weary to care and too tired to hurt anymore."

Harry frowned, "Will I ever be able to cry again?"

"Eventually. You'll find something of your own that will make you cry again, Harry, something you love, and it will heal you. It might feel at times like you can't possibly be hurt anymore, and it might feel like nothing good will ever happen again- but something will. There will always be something to make you start looking up again."

Laura got up to leave but Harry called to her again, "Laura?" She turned around, eyebrow raised in question. "What was your good thing? What made you live again?"

The demon girl smiled the first honest smile he had ever seen, "Albus Dumbledore was the first when I was seven, and then being accepted without question by all of you, even when you knew what I was."

Harry stared at the door long after Laura had left, mulling over what he had been told. Finally realizing that he was aloud to be happy, and that Sirius would indeed have yelled at him for moping around like he was, Harry rolled under the covers and fell into the first peaceful sleep he had had in a long time.

**Attn:** I am sooooooo sorry for the long wait. I had a major case of writers block and then another story idea which will explain Laura's past a lot better, but I've put that on hold so that I can at least get everyone to Hogwarts before Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince comes out . Oh well... I hope the lenght of the chapter makes up for the wait. And Chapter 6 is half-way done!

A special thank you to idiot with reason and gaul1 for their reviews. THANK YOU!

REVIEW PEOPLE! PLEEEEEAAAASSSSSSSEEEE!


	6. The Second War Begins

Thank you for your wonderful reviews! Sorry it took so long, but I've been banned from the computer at home and my only access to one is at school, so updates will be coming slower than you will like (sorry idiot with reason) but there's nothing I can do about it. Hope this chapter is out fast enough for you (and long enough). I have one question though: do you want to learn more about Laura Potter's past? Cause I have a story idea for that, but I'm not sure if I should publish it. Let me know!

idiot with reason: how much the Black Family is worth… well… lets just say that even with the vault being split with the Order, the Weasleys, McGonagall, and Remus, if Harry and Laura were to have just received the Black vault then they would have at least tied the Malfoys in being the richest family in England muahahahaha… and with the Potter vault as well as the Black vault, Harry and Laura are at least on the top ten Worlds Richest People list.

I think I've kept you from reading long enough. Now on with the fic!

**Chapter 6**

**The Second War Begins**

When Harry awoke in the morning Laura was already gone, he had heard her enter the room some time during the night. Harry didn't really mind; it _was_ her room after all. He was a bit disappointed that she was gone, though, as he had wanted to thank her for helping him realize what he had. He also felt as if a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders and years of hidden guilt had disappeared.

Entering the kitchen after a nice long shower, Harry found all his friends except Laura at the table arguing over how to wake him. "You know… there's really no need for that unless you were planning to dump the water on me right here." Harry commented when Ron suggested that they dump a bucket of water on him.

"Oh, hey Harry. We were just discussing – Harry! When did you wake up?"

"I've been awake for about an hour now. I'm surprised you didn't hear the water running." He sat down, pulled a plate of sausages towards him, and began downing them in record time. "So where's Laura?" He asked in between mouthfuls.

Hermione raised an eyebrow, "Don't you remember? She has her Defense O.W.L. today. She left with Mr. Weasley before any of us got up."

Harry smacked his head, he had totally forgotten about that. Now he felt even guiltier for keeping her up late at night. To change the subject, as there was nothing he could do about that until she got back, he asked the group what they had been planning for the day.

"Well I thought we might as well explore the house. That way we can see just how big the house really is and at the same time look for the vault Sirius mentioned." Hermione replied, laying out the whole day for them. "Although, considering how big mansions usually are, we may need some extra help with the cleaning." They all agreed and headed out to explore the house.

Around four hours later, they had found two new wings to the house and they were only ¼ of the ways through! The house was absolutely HUGE! After listening to Ron's stomach growling for the tenth time, they all were starting to head back to the kitchen when alarms started sounding.

"What the -" Harry asked.

"Alarms. They alert us to Death Eater attacks and where the attack is taking place, in this case the Ministry. This particular alarm means assemble; the aurors and present Order members have it under control and no back up is needed.

By the time the group got there most of the Order had already assembled and were anxiously waiting for the rest to show up so they could figure out what had happened. When twenty minutes had passed, the rest of the members had given up telling Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore to sit down before they paced a hole in the carpet. The only members that were missing at this point were Tonks, Kingsley, Author, and Laura. Everyone who was at the Ministry that morning, and the two of them were a nervous wreck.

Half an hour later Dumbledore had given up waiting for them and had Disapperated to the Ministry to find out what was going on. Another tem minutes passed before the telltale 'popping' sound of people apparating was heard and Tonks, Kingsley, and Laura appeared with Kingsley holding Laura, who was cut and bloodied and her shirt had been reduced to shreds, revealing white bandages wrapped around her chest with scarlet stains starting to show through.

"Bloody reporters," Laura was complaining, "Why can't they wait until we're ready to make a statement before they start crowding us. You'd think they'd be more concerned with what happened to the Ministry itself than us."

"Well that should give them a reason to be nice to you, Laura. You were the only one in the whole building that kept a cool enough head to contact the Aurors before you started blasting the Death Eaters with every hex you could think of." Kingsley replied.

"Yeah, yeah. You can put me down, you know. It's not like walking to the couch is going to kill me, or cause anymore damage to any vital parts that I know of."

"Probably not, but your father would kill me if I let you walk anywhere before you get your injuries taken care of. Not to mention what Minerva would do to me if I put you down." Kingsley smirked, shifting her to take out his wand, but McGonagall got there first. With one wave of her wand she had transfigured one of the wooden chairs into a soft, divan like couch for Kingsley to lay Laura on. "Thanks, Minerva."

Despite his concern for his cousin and about the Ministry, Harry had to laugh at the scowl developing on Laura's face as Professor McGonagall, and Mrs. Weasley started fussing over her. Harry had to admit, though, seeing McGonagall acting so motherly towards anyone was rather unnerving. "Merlin! People! I'm fine! Would you stop fussing over me and pay attention so that we can start the meeting?"

"Fine my arse. Laura you have -"

"Three broken ribs and six fractured ones. I _know_! And I will be fine by tomorrow. Now can we please get this meeting over with?" Mrs. Weasley huffed and stalked out of the kitchen, but McGonagall was apparently used to Laura's out bursts as she just kept checking her over.

"Very well. As you all know, the Ministry was attacked by twenty Death Eaters, all of who are currently being sent on a one-way trip to Azkaban. What you do not know is that one of the Death Eaters managed to smuggle a wizard bomb into the Atrium that went off just as we had gotten the situation under control." Kingsley said to the Order. "The building was completely destroyed but thankfully no one was hurt. Albus and Author are still at the Ministry trying to sort things out."

Mrs. Wealsey came bustling back in, her arms full of bandages, and Harry could have sworn he heard a growl coming from Laura, but she didn't protest.

Snape was looking thoughtfully at Laura, "Do you have the pictures?"

"Yeah, hold on." Kingsley took out a roll of film and tapped them with his wand. A second later he was holding a stack of pictures as well as the film. "These are just the muggle version of them. If you need the wizarding copies you're going to have to wait a bit."

Snape shook his head and flipped through them. Pausing when he reached one of the last ones, his scowl deepened, "Here's your answer as to why Laura was the only one hurt. Miss. Potter seemed to think that saving the lives of others was more important than saving her own."

Laura glared at him as Kingsley took the picture. One look at it and his eyes flew wide open in shock, "Damn it Laura! Do you always have to act the hero? You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Key words Kingsley, '_could have_'. But I didn't, and I wouldn't have had I known that I would have been killed. Getting slammed into a wall and crushed by boulders is a small price to pay for not being the only one to have survived the blast and having to live with the knowledge that I could have stopped everyone from dying." Laura snapped, her eyes flaring with a blue fire that reminded everyone present of Dumbledore when he was mad, but with a darker side to it.

"I have one question." Hermione said tentatively, breaking the tension that had lain over the room like a blanket.

"What's that?"

"How did the Death Eaters manage to enter the Ministry undetected? I mean, after what happened last year, I doubt that they wouldn't do anything about it."

Kingsley shrugged and looked at Tonks who said softly, "Five minutes before the attack, I overheard someone talking about it on one of the lifts. Fudge was having a meeting with the Death Eaters to 'try to talk reason into them', and that all Aurors on guard duty over the Minister had been given the day off."

The word 'idiot' and some more nasty terms were heard when the members heard this. Amos Diggory, who had joined the Order when his son had died, opened his mouth to say something, looking rather angry, but Alastor Moody got there first, "What I'm most concerned about is that the Order had no information about this meeting prior to it taking place."

He looked at Kingsley, who just shrugged, "Don't ask me, I was given the day off. 'A special thank you for protecting the Ministry against known dark forces when no one else would.' Or that's what they told me."

"That's strange." Tonks said, frowning, "I didn't get one, and Fudge knew I was there."

Snape looked up sharply, "What did you say to the Minister when they found you there?"

"That I had been reporting to Kingsley when they attacked. I said I had received a tip off about Sirius and had wanted to give it to Kingsley in person."

"And you Shacklebolt?"

"I had to tell them the truth; that Albus had asked me to go after Harry and his friends." Kingsley frowned, "You're not saying…"

"Unfortunately I am. There's a spy in the Order, maybe not for the Dark Lord, but defiantly for Fudge. Because as much as he may seem, the Minister is not stupid enough as to let Dumbledore know that he was planning to contact the Death Eaters. He must have known that if you had found out that you would have told the Headmaster and that he would have tried to stop him at all costs."

Alastor nodded and turned to Hestia Jones, "Jones, could you go and tell Albus that we need him here? This is a development that he'll need to hear." She nodded and disapperated to the ministry. "Now then Severus, why didn't you warn us about the attack?"

"Incase you haven't noticed, I have been unable to report back for several days." Snape sneered," The Dark Lord had us all planning the attack for days on end and there was no way that I could slip away long enough to warn the Order. The most I could do was to convince the Dark Lord to attack on the day that I knew Laura would have her Defense Exam, knowing that she would be able to stop most of the effects of the bomb, and hope that she would still be there when the attack occurred. Either way, no I was not one of the attackers. The Dark Lord values my position too much to risk loosing me; I was to stay at his side until the attack was finished and then report to the Headmaster saying that I knew nothing of the attack."

"Really? And how do we know you aren't lying to us? That you haven't betrayed us?" Diggory accused Snape, "And why are there under aged children in here during a meeting?"

Many of the Order members were about to retort when a popping sound announced the arrival of Dumbledore and Author. Ignoring the angry looks being sent at Diggory, Dumbledore walked straight over to Laura and knelt down beside her. "Demon child, are you ok?"

Laura sighed before answering, "Yes, Ada. I am fine. The damage is already being healed and I will be perfectly fine by tomorrow."

"Then I have a request for you." Laura eyed him suspiciously, "Do you remember the offer you gave the Aurors when the return of Voldemort was publicly announced? Well, they have decided to take you up on it after the result of today's attack. Madam Bones has decided that she would rather not risk dealing with an attack on Azkaban and she knows perfectly well that you are the only one who can make the defenses strong enough to resist an attack even if Voldemort himself showed up." He paused looking down at her, "Are you up to it?"

Her reply was instant and sure, "Yes."

"Are you sure? The demento -"

Laura cut him off with a glare worthy of Snape himself, "I can deal with the effects of the dementors long enough to put the wards up. And yes I promise I will come straight back when I am done."

"Very well then." Minerva looked like she was going to protest but was cut off by a look from Dumbledore, "Before you leave I would like to present our six newest members with the symbol of their membership. Would you all please come forward?"

When they were all in front of him Dumbledore walked over to Harry first and placed a necklace over his neck and hugged him before repeating the process with the rest of the group. "These necklaces are charmed with different protection spells, and will identify you to another Order member should your identity and/or membership be questioned. Your necklace can only be removed by you and if need be, will allow you to contact other members when needed." Harry looked at his; it was a silver chain and with a silver phoenix in flight/

"It is also custom that all members call each other by their first names. This includes professors in the Order with the exception of being in class and with non-members. Understood?" Dumbledore asked in a serious voice, waiting for their nods. "Great! Now if you'll excuse us I believe that Laura and I have business to attend too." As they left the room to go to their separate destinations Harry noticed that Remus, McGonagall, and even Snape were watching Laura leave with concern written in their gazes.

The moment he could be sure that Dumbledore wouldn't hear, Diggory started complaining about under aged children being let into an organization that was meant for adults. He was especially mad that a half-breed had been allowed to join and could be heard loudly asking his wife why anyone would trust 'something like that' to protect Azkaban.

"For all we know she could be weakening the defenses at the request of You-Know-Who. Hell! For all we know she could be a Death Eater and the informant for the Ministry!"

All at once, everyone who had been bound in the Circle, despite the fact that five of them were under aged, and, to everyone's surprise, Snape, had their wands drawn and leveled at Amos Diggory's chest. "Mr. Diggory," he said in his most silky voice that all his students, both past and present, knew meant danger, "not only is insulting Laura Potter under this roof unadvisable, it is down right dangerous. And to do it in front of the Headmaster is suicidal. He trusts her far more than almost anyone in the Order and the girl's loyalty to her guardian and adoptive father, as well as anyone she has deemed trustworthy, is absolute."

Diggory had paled when Snape had named Laura Dumbledore's daughter, but remained steadfast, "Half-breeds cannot be trusted! It is a proven fact and one I should know well as I have to work with the creatures every day!"

"The Headmaster has been Laura Potter's guardian and father since she was seven. Had there been any question of her loyalty it would have been dealt with then."

"Oh for Merlin's sake! She blew up half of Azkaban! How do you expect someone who would do that for no reason to be able to -"

"NO REASON! SHE WAS LOCKED UP IN AZKABAN FOR FIVE YEARS! WHAT MORE REASON DOES SHE NEED?" McGonagall, whose mouth had slowly been getting thinner and thinner, finally exploded.

"She was in Azkaban because -"

"It was punishment." Remus said shortly, his face a mask of calm, "Punishment for surviving an attack that 'the Mother and Father of the Savoir' did not. That amendment just made everything one hell of a lot easier for Fudge to justify." Okay, maybe not, everyone present knew that once Remus started swearing things were going to get ugly.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, Fred, and George were completely lost. Even Hermione had no idea what the adults were talking about. Frowning, she tried to remember all the amendments that had been made in the past eighteen years. Suddenly it clicked and Hermione let out a soft "oh" of understanding making the others look at her expectantly but she just shook her head and mouthed 'later' to them before turning back to the battle that was raging before them.

"It was not punishment!" Mr. Diggory was yelling, "Under Amendment 65 'any orphan half-breed who cannot find a suitable guardian within six months of their parents' deaths will be placed somewhere the Ministry deems appropriate."

"And what, pray tell," Snape asked in an icy voice that indicated to anyone who knew him, he was close to killing the man, "justifies placing a _two-year-old_ in _Azkaban_."

The room went deathly still. Not a sound could be heard after Snape's words. Everyone was looking at him in horror except for McGonagall and Remus who apparently already knew.

"Do you have any idea," McGonagall hissed, the venom dripping from her voice, "what she goes through every time she gets close to a dementor? What she is going through at this very moment putting the wards on Azkaban? Hell! Do you know that the girl became saturated after a year of taking the Dreamless Sleep potion?" Snape's head snapped up and Harry caught a glimpse of a horrified expression on his face before it slipped back into its normal expressionless mask. "Merlin Amos! And she's not the only one who was in there!"

Mrs. Weasley was livid "YOU LOCKED _CHILDREN _UP IN AZKABAN!"

Mr. Diggory looked affronted at the reactions he was getting, "I really do not see what the problem is. There is nothing wrong with what we did to them. Half-breeds don't really feel any kind of emotion oth -"

But they never found out exactly what emotion half-breeds were supposed to feel as everyone there who knew Laura had sent a combination of two dozen curses and hexes at him, except those under aged (some how they had managed to control their infamous tempers, even Harry, knowing they could not afford an under aged magic hearing). By the time they had finished with him he was reduced to looking like a slug, which, as George said with an astonishing amount of venom, made him look a lot better than he normally looked.

Mrs. Diggory was looking outraged and was about to protest when the Weasley twins rounded on them with Bill and Charlie stand behind them. "Get him out of here and do not come back until you are called unless you want to end up getting the same thing."

"And on whose authority are you doing this?" She huffed.

"That would be mine." Harry said through gritted teeth trying desperately to keep his temper under control. Something was telling him not to lose it and Harry could tell that losing his temper would have serious consequences as he could feel a strange force rising inside him.

"Not possible," was her immediate response, "The last I heard this place belonged to the dead criminal, Black, you have no authority here."

"Sirius left Harry his house in his will. And Harry is telling you to leave, which I highly suggest you do unless you want to be on the receiving end of his temper." Charlie gritted out, his hand was clenched so tightly around his wand that his hand was white.

With one last huff, Mrs. Diggory gingerly held her husband's arm and the two of them disapperated leaving one very tense and furious house hold behind.

As soon as the meeting was over Hermione made a mad dash to the library they had discovered during their search earlier. Following at a slightly slower pace was Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Neville, and Ginny.

"Does anyone know what the hell Amendment 65 is? I mean, I remember hearing something about it in History, but who ever remembers anything clearly in that class?" George was saying the murderous look that had been on his face since the row had begun still had not faded.

"Hermione apparently still does." Harry said as they entered the library to see Hermione dashing from shelf to shelf looking for some book.

"Yeah, but forget that. Did you guys see the look on Snape's face! And he was defending her! Didn't Laura say they hated each other?" Ron asked trying to figure it out, "Did you find what you were looking for?" he asked as Hermione came over carrying a huge leather bound volume.

"Yes. This book contains every law and amendment ever written and automatically updates when a new one is written. It shouldn't take long to find."

"If you're a book worm, that is." Ron commented eyeing the size of the book, "Ouch! What was that for?" he cried as Ginny smacked him.

"For being a prat. Now shut up and listen." She scolded as Hermione found the page in record time.

"Here it is:

'_Amendment 65, or more commonly known as 'the Human Protection Act', was the first amendment that the current Minister (Cornelius Fudge) signed into law. It was said to have been done at the bidding of his Senior Undersecretary, Deloris Jane Umbridge, who is a known advocate against no-humans, or half-breeds, as she calls them._

_Amendment 65 states that 'any non-human under the age of seventeen that is either unwanted by their parents, or is an orphan and cannot find a sui -' _"

"'Suitable guardian by the end of the assigned six month period is to be placed in Ministry care and under Ministry control.'" Remus said walking over to them gathered at the table. "In other words, anyone that cannot avoid the law is officially placed under the Ministry's care so that no one can complain and then shipped off to undisclosed location until they are seventeen. The problem with that is that none of us knew where the children were being taken. And non of the children who were placed under Ministry care were ever seen or hear from again" The bitterness in his voice somehow told them that he was talking about other half-humans.

"We had our suspicions that it would be Azkaban, as Umbridge was the one behind the act, but none of us could do anything as the Ministry had declared us 'unfit to be guardians'." He sat down and looked at his hands bleakly, "None of us even knew Laura was alive until Albus brought her back from Azkaban the day she blew it up."

Ginny walked over to the werewolf and hugged him, "Why'd she blow it up? I mean after five years what finally made her break?"

"I don't know. She won't talk about it, and the only people who would know would be Albus and Severus."

Ron looked up sharply, "Snape?" he asked incredulously, "why would Snape know? They hate each other!"

"Correction: Severus hates Laura, Laura doesn't necessarily hate him. They used to be friends during the first year Laura was free. If it wasn't for him I really don't think that Laura would have gotten this far. He was utterly devoted to her, and would spend hours at a time trying to find a potion that she could take every night that would allow her to sleep without the fear of becoming saturated."

"What happened?" Neville whispered.

"Severus' temper happened. He over heard Minerva and I talking about her and he heard us use her last name. Needless to say, he didn't take very well to it, and completely abandoned her."

"Bastard," George muttered.

Remus smiled sadly, "Close, but not quite. Come on, your mother wants your help with dinner."

Everyone got up besides Harry. When Hermione looked at him, he shook his head and said, "You go on, I have something I need to look up."

Hermione gave him an odd look but nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her. As soon as Harry was sure he would not be interrupted, he started searching the room for the books he needed. Harry wanted to learn everything he could about half-humans and everything that could be done to protect them from prejudice.

Looking around at the huge library Harry suddenly felt overwhelmed, "Oh, Hermione, now I know why you spend so much time in here. Read until you find your answer or until you forget your troubles." Sighing, Harry got to work. He had a feeling that it would take a while to find the books he was looking for.

Laura finally returned four hours later completely exhausted. The wards had been harder to place than she had thought and she had had to modify the existing ones to make the ones she was putting up effective. The dementors didn't make anything easier, she mused as she walked up to the front door of Grimmuld Place. All-in-all, it was very tiring work and the thing she wanted to do most was eat some of Mrs. Weasley's delicious cooking before crashing in her room and not leaving until the nightmares had faded (or at least until her father broke through the wards on her door and blasted it down). She just hoped that the nightmares wouldn't start up again as they usually did after she had dealt with dementors.

Unfortunately, she had to get to her room first and with all the members of the Circle waiting for her in the kitchen, her hopes of reaching her room with out meeting anyone were very slim. Raised voices reached Laura's ears as she neared the kitchen door: "I don't care what that law says! It is illegal to send a child to Azkaban!"

"I know, Molly, I know. Unfortunately without Laura's consent and cooperation there is nothing we can do." Minerva's voice floated through the half-open door.

Laura froze, panic overtaking her. The last thing she wanted was for _everyone_ to know what had gone on in the 'special' part of Azkaban that the Ministry reserved for what they deemed to be 'lesser beings'. Not even Snape knew just what went on behind the barrier that kept the two parts separate and she wanted to keep it that way knowing full well what would happen if Remus, Ada, Minerva, or anyone else found out, especially Ada. Death would be better than what was waiting for Fudge, Umbridge, and everyone else that knew what went on behind closed doors.

Taking a deep breath and silently reminding herself that everyone who knew was either dead or too frightened of Albus Dumbledore's wrath to be telling anyone, Laura forced her anger at Minerva to die and braced herself for what was sure to come.

When the door opened a silence descended on the room and everyone froze with the 'deer caught in the headlights' look on their faces, seeing the foreboding look on the demon girl's face. This would have been very amusing for Laura if she had not had an ingrained fear of _anyone_ finding out what exactly goes on in Briarwood. Mrs. Weasley immediately had her in one of her trademark bear hugs giving Minerva enough time to escape before letting go.

"The next time you see her would you please let her know that I am _not_ mad at her?" Laura sighed. "And by the way, where is Harry?"

"Probably still in the library." Hermione said, relieved that they weren't about to find out why the adults feared upsetting Laura. "We left him in there because he said he had some things to research."

Laura sighed again before getting up, "probably me. I'll go bring him down for dinner, Mrs. Weasley."

Harry was sitting on one of the leather chairs not even bothering to stop the tears from falling on the pages. Feelings of anger and helplessness were crushing down on him. 'How can anyone be so cruel?' he wondered, 'how could anyone believe that being half-human could make you any less a person?' He was so caught up in his thoughts that for the second time in two days Harry found himself wrapped in his cousin's arms. "How can you bear it?" He asked, desperation evident in his voice. "How could anyone stand to be treated like that?"

"Because I have friends, jarin. Friends who care enough to stand up and fight to make something right when they see something that they believe is wrong."

Harry nodded to show he understood before asking, "Does jarin mean what I think it means?"

"That depends on what you think it means." Laura responded, "but if you think it means 'brother', then yes, you are right. And before you ask, Ada means 'father'."

Harry stared at her, shocked that after a few days she was willing to call him brother, but even more shocked that she called Albus Dumbledore father. "Does he know you call him that?"

"Hmm? I don't seem to remember telling him, so probably not. But that doesn't matter. What does is if you are going to tell me why you were reading that god awful book."

"You read it?"

"Yes, I was seven. I had snuck into the library to read it after Ada had strictly forbidden me. I cried for hours and hid in the one place no one thought to look for me. It took them hours to find me and even after that I didn't speak to anyone for two days because I thought they all hated me. But once again you are avoiding the question. Why on earth were you reading that god awful book?"

Harry smiled sheepishly, "I wanted to know more about demons and werewolves. So far I've only found on good book on werewolves and none on demons."

"What book?"

"_Hairy Snout Human Heart_."

"You had better not let Remus know you read it. He'll acuse you of going sentimental. But it is the only good book on werewolves, if you want to know about demons you had best ask Hermione for her copy of '_Demon or Devil_.'"

Harry frowned, trying to find a way to ask the one question that he was dying to know the answer to, but few knew that demons could do it, and he only knew because of an off hand remark Remus had made in his third year. "Umm, Laura?"

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did, but I think I can allow for one more."

"What's your other form?"

"Where'd you learn that?" Laura was impressed, "not many people knew about that. It was, after all, a closely guarded secret.

"Remus meantioned it in third year. Can you show me?"

"Nope, that would be telling. But I'll give you a hint; there's a reason Sirius called me Shadow. Now come on before the Weasley matriarch has our hides for missing dinner."


	7. Laura's Pensive

**ATTN: **This chapter is unbeta-ed. Will replace with beta-ed version as soon as possible.

My thanks to my beta reader: the lovely Lady Elwen Iluvalatari. Here's another chapter for you. Have fun! (grins wickedly)

Yes people, this is shorter than normal, but I think it best that I get this out before I have the angry mob of people after me to get it finished.

**Chapter 7**

**Laura's Pensive **

To say that only a few things changed in the week that followed would have been the understatement of the year. In that one week, Laura had all the teens including Fred and George trained enough to be adequate in her view, in everyone else's view they were lethal with their weapons. After much begging and pleading Laura finally gave in and also taught them how to teleport, which they also mastered within the week, and how to speak to magical creatures, which was surprisingly easy. True to his word, Dumbledore showed Harry how to use his pensive which proved essential to Harry finally managing to stop having nightmares of Cedric and Sirius dying every night. As Dumbledore was too overloaded with things that he had to do from the Order, Hogwarts, and for the Ministry (a.k.a: petitioning to get Fudge fired), Snape was stuck with teaching the whole Order Occlumency. It seemed the Headmaster had had a talk with the Potions Master, as there were no more sneering comments and attacks on Harry and his father and godfather (much to his relief).

The changes to the house itself were astounding. It truly had become the headquarters for the resistance. Dobby and Winky had come from Hogwarts to work for Harry as the master of the house, and with their help they changed the ball room into a state of the art and very advanced training room, one of the dinning rooms into the battle room where maps of England and Ireland, Europe, as well as the whole world. Blue shimmers were creatures that have sworn to fight for the light, black were creatures for the dark, and orange were uncommitted, Order members were red, and known Death Eaters were green. Order meetings had moved from the kitchen into a meeting room that had enough Silencing and Impertuable charms on it that even Fred and George couldn't figure out how to get past it.

Laura had also found a side room off the meeting room that she sealed off for two days and didn't come out except for lessons and to train the others. When she finally did come out and let the others see it, they were shocked. The room was painted sapphire blue (the same shade as Laura's eyes) and had pictures of every known victim of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Underneath the pictures were plaques that held the person's name their birth and death dates, their name and what they did/accomplished and what had happened to them including Laura's parents, Harry's parents, Neville's parents, and Sirius with room for the others that were sure to come. Over the pictures was a phrase in demonic. When asked what they meant Laura answered, _"For remembrance. As a reminder."_ Needless to say, everyone loved it, even though it caused more than a few tears from everyone. Mrs. Weasley had to be taken out when she saw the pictures of her deceased brothers on the wall, she cried so hard.

The protection charms around Headquarters were upgraded and even more were added making it one of the safest buildings in all of England if not the world falling right behind Hogwarts and Gringots respectively. They also found the vault that Sirius had told them about in his will. Dobby and Winky had found it behind the picture of Mrs. Black that they finally managed to get down after about two hours of nonstop attempts. Inside was filled with jewels and other priceless items that many people would pay a fortune for including about twenty invisibility cloaks. Harry and Laura decided they would go to the Order except for four of them, which would go to Hermione, Ron, Neville, and Ginny. The vault was so huge that they still hadn't finished going through it. As a safety precaution, Dumbledore insisted that Harry, as master of the house, choose three people besides himself and only they would be allowed to enter without being escorted by either Harry as master of the house. Harry immediately chose Remus, Dumbledore, and after a long and very loud argument which Harry won by saying that he was master of the house just because he was male and that because she owned Grimmuld Place she should have just as much access to the vault as he did, Laura.

Changes to the Order and the house weren't the only things taking place; Snape was actually being _civil_ to everyone, almost human, which was rather unnerving to those who had been taught by him and were used to him being a snarky bastard and a greasy git. He even listened to and accepted Harry's apology for seeing his memory! The only thing that hadn't changed about him was that he was avoiding Laura outside of Occlumency lessons puzzling everyone who had been present when Snape defended Laura against Amos Diggory who still wasn't allowed back to Headquarters.

Everyone who was bound in the Circle, and many outside of it, had basically become one big huge family. The teens found themselves with an assortment of aunts, uncles, and cousins while themselves becoming as close as siblings. Needless to say, it was one very busy week.

As fun as having a huge family was, Harry still wished for time that he could just spend with Ron and Hermione like they used to do. A wish that to Laura at least was obvious, so Harry, Ron, and Hermione were in Harry's room (in addition to all the cleaning and stuff they had found out that the Most Noble and Ancient House of Black was bigger than most manors and there was more than enough room for everyone to have their own rooms) playing chess, while Laura, Ginny, Fred, and George (Neville had to go home to his Gran) were plotting to get Ron and Hermione together.

"Remind me again why we even bother?" Harry grumbled as he watched his king get pounded by Ron's queen. "I mean, all we ever do is lose, and we're never going to get any better if that's all we do."

"I dunno. You two are the ones who agree to playing me." Ron answered as he set up the board again. "You wanna go, Mione? Mione?"

Hermione was staring out the window a thoughtful look on her face. "Hmm? Oh! Um… no thanks… Harry can go again…"

"You okay Hermione?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking."

"About what?" Harry joined in.

Hermione looked at them before finally coming to a conclusion, "Ron, do you know why all of the adults are so afraid of getting Laura really mad?"

Ron frowned, "I'm not sure. When ever Ginny and I would ask they would ignore us or change the subject. Even Fred and George seem to have some idea, but when we confronted them, they wouldn't tell us. Why?"

"I mean, some time they seem to go out of their way to make sure that she doesn't hear about certain things, most of the time they have to do with Fudge and the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. They seem to fear doing anything that could greatly anger her. I know that blowing up Azkaban is a fearsome display of power and temper but that was only once. And even a full blooded demon's temper isn't feared that much."

Harry and Ron exchanged a glance before eyeing Hermione apprehensively. They hadn't been her friends for five years for nothing. They could tell when she was planning something, and most of the time it wasn't fun. "What are you thinking?"

"Well, I know that Dumbledore gave Laura a Pensive for Christmas a few years ago. And I really want to know why everyone fears her…. So I was thinking that we could sneak into her room and look. She won't be back for a while, Dumbledore asked her to run an errand for him that will take awhile."

They just stared at her. Sure they wanted to know the answer, but did they want to know enough to risk being caught in Laura's pensive? But they knew Hermione well enough to know that when she got that look in her eye she would do it no matter what and they both would rather go with her than let her go alone. Sighing Harry said, "Fine, you win. We'll go with you. But I'm the one who controls what is seen as I know how to control it."

"Thank you Harry!" Hermione squealed giving him a hug before rushing out of the room.

Ron looked like he could have cheerfully killed Harry for that hug for a moment before shaking his head and muttering, "We're having a bad effect on her. You know that don't you?"

Harry sighed, "Yeah, I know. We'd better go before she gets impatient enough that she goes without us."

It had taken them a while to find Harry's cousin's pensive, but they were now inside watching blurred scenes fly by. Harry caught a glimpse of the ruins of Godric's Hollow; Fudge tricking a black haired, blue eyed girl to come with him; the same girl, a little older, comforting an older boy whose skin was rotting making him resemble a dementor; the girl, again older, fighting tooth and nail against an adult male with a red headed girl hiding in the shadows; the girl sobbing over a freshly dug grave planting fresh blood red flowers over it; the black haired blue eyed girl standing on what seemed to be a destroyed building turned into a bloody battle field; Dumbledore carrying said girl from said ruins; Dumbledore holding the sobbing girl Harry now recognized as Laura –

The scene suddenly changed to more recent times and Laura and Snape were glaring at each other from across the room. Harry recognized it from the day the Ministry had been attacked, Laura was lying on a couch in the drawing room and Snape was standing across the room. "What are you doing here Snape?"

"It's _Professor_ Snape. Show respect for your professors," Snape sneered.

Laura's eyes flashed as she sneered, "Then the next time I see one I will. For the record you are a professor at Hogwarts who teaches potions. As the chances of me getting into your class is almost non-existent you are just that: _a_ professor, nothing more, and nothing less. You are not and never will be my professor and as such I will show you just as much respect as you show me." Ron sniggered, and Harry and Hermione had to bit their lips to keep from joining him.

Snape snarled but refrained from commenting, "The Headmaster wished me tell you that the Dark Lord is looking for you."

Laura's eyebrow rose, "He knows where to find me. He doesn't need to look for me."

"Not you specifically, but who ever blew up Azkaban. That and he's looking for some dark creature that all other dark creatures fear. I don't know about the second one, but I do know that you are the one who blew up Azkaban."

"Did you tell him?"

"No, and I won't, but I am to try to find out who and were this so called leader of the Dark Creatures is."

Laura's eyes darkened, "Do you know what the so called 'dark creatures' call me, Severus?"

"No," Snape shook his head.

The room chilled. "They call me the Sadist Severus. Do you know why they call me the Sadist?"

"No," Snape almost whispered.

"Because they fear me Severus. They fear my wrath. And they go to extraordinary lengths to keep that wrath from surfacing."

Snape paled, looking at Hermione and Ron, Harry saw that they had as well, "Fearing your temper I can understand, but why call you the Sadist?"

Laura's face was completely wiped of emotion; "You really don't know, do you?" he shook his head, "Then let us hope you will never find out." Harry, Ron, and Hermione understood the hidden message, the question was; did Snape. From the look of it, he didn't.

Silence descended over the room, neither of them saying anything yet neither leaving, yet the chill in the room lessened and disappeared. "What really made you hate me?" She asked suddenly, "Is it really because I'm a Potter? Or something else?"

"I – yes." Snape hesitated.

"Look at me. Am I anything like my father? Answer honestly."

Again Snape hesitated, then, "No."

"And Harry, "Aside from the fact that he gets away with more than any other student in the history of Hogwarts, is he _anything_ like James? Does he go jinxing people just for the fun of it? Is his rule breaking just for the sake of breaking rules, or is there always a reason behind it? If you had to pick which of his parents Harry was most like wouldn't you pick Lily?"

What ever Snape was going to say next was something he was loathe to say. He was about to respond when Laura caught his eye, "Answer truthfully," she said to quietly.

"No," the greasy haired potions master said softly and suddenly Harry was able to piece together something that had been eluding him until now. Memories he had seen during last years Occlumency lessons came flooding back to him; Snape getting beaten' Snape watching his mother get beaten; Snape being taunted and tortured by his father and Sirius; Snape being rescued by Lily.

Harry finally understood: Snape hadn't become the way he was by being a Death Eater. He was that way by his abusive father and then had that position solidified by the Marauders. Snape had fallen in love with Lily because she was the only person in the entire school who would stand up to James to make him stop. And she was a Gryffindor, the mortal enemy of the Sytherins, the Slytherins who wouldn't stand up for one of there own when a Gryffindor did.

And he finally understood that ever since being freed from Azkaban and meeting Snape, Laura was the one who, more than anyone else, and because of that; she was the only one who could melt the ice he had formed around his heart when he was little and abused by his father. The ice that had hardened from being in Slytherin, being tortured by the Marauders, and being rejected by Lily. The ice that was solidified when Severus Snape became a Death Eater.

And even Ron and Hermione could see some, if not all, of what Harry was seeing. Harry watched as understanding crossed their faces, and he knew that they, like himself, would give their Potions Master a second chance to become the man he could have been. But his attention was drawn back to the memory when Laura spoke:

"Then give them a chance. Give them a chance to show you why all the other teachers sing their praises. And maybe they'll give you a chance to be the man you hide from everyone." A bitter look flashed across her face, "And maybe then you'll learn not to push people away when they get too close to you."

As reformed as Snape may have become, some things will never change, Snape having to ignore his pride to ask for forgiveness was one of them. "C-can you forgive me?" He looked like he had been forced to swallow two bottles of Skele-Grow.

"Are you sorry?" All she got was a glare that while giving the answer, would have made any of his students wither.

Laura got up and walked to the door. Right before she left the room she looked back, her face once again emotionless, and answered, "You called me a half-breed bastard and a whore. The precise quote was 'Pure bloods do not and never will associate with a half-breed whore who was spawned by the devil.' One does not automatically forgive you for that. Given time, maybe. But not now. I can't right now."

The memory stopped suddenly and Harry, Ron, and Hermione found themselves being thrown out of the pensive. "Bloody Hell!" Ron exclaimed, "Now we know why Snape wa-" He froze, a look of horror on his face, his eyes wide.

Harry and Hermione spun around to find Laura standing in the doorway, her face that emotionless mask they had seen in the pensive. She just stood there for a moment, and then she spun on her heel and disappeared.

After many mental beatings and long arguments with himself as well as the others, Harry, Ron, and Hermione gave in and went in search of her to apologize. However, Laura didn't seem to be inclined to make the search for her easy. They looked for her all night and finally gave up when the clock struck midnight.

It was the morning the second day and so far they had had no luck what so ever in finding her. Harry was making one last round around the house when he passed a door he hadn't seen before. Wondering where it lead, Harry followed the staircase upward and came to a door on the other end. Opening it Harry was blinded by the sudden glare of the sun beating down on the rooftop. Once his eyes had adjusted to the light, Harry was able to make out the slender form of Laura sitting on the edge of the roof watching the sunrise. (It was 6 o'clock; everyone had gotten so used to Laura waking them up at the ungodly hour of 5 in the morning for physical training that they didn't even notice it anymore) Taking a deep breath Harry sat down next to her, looking over the horizon.

"Have you been up here all night?" Out of the corner of his eye Harry saw her nod. He also noticed the tear stains on her cheeks. "We wanted to apologize to you. We shouldn't have looked in your pensive. It was wrong and we're sorry." He looked sideways at her and added, "We'll understand if you won't forgive us, but we wanted you to know that we are sorry."

Harry got up and was about to leave when Laura said one word, "Why?"

Even though Harry was dreading this and had been ever since they had decided to apologize, some how he knew that wither they remained friends would depend on if he answered the question honestly. "We wanted to know why the adults seemed to fear you getting angry. No one would answer us, so our infamous curiosity took over."

"And did you find what you were looking for?"

"We know that the dark creatures call you the Sadist. We know that they fear the Sadist because of reasons that are unknown to us, but we think that it may have something to do with what ever happened to you in Azkaban."

Something akin to fear flashed through her eyes, "And you know what happened in Briarwood, the place in Azkaban where they kept the children?"

It wasn't a question but Harry answered anyway, "I saw flashes of different scenes but nothing that tells me anymore than that there was more going on in that place than you are saying."

That emotionless look they had seen in the pensive was back, "Will you tell anyone?"

Harry didn't hesitate, "No. We betrayed your trust once but we will not do it again." There was a pause in which Harry sat back down next to her and said softly, "I also wanted to thank you for convincing Snape to give me – all of us – another chance."

And for the first time since she had left them last nigh Laura looked Harry straight in the eye, "You saw the memory of me and Severus." Again, it wasn't a question.

"Yes, and we all got the message."

"Did you?" Laura again looked to the sun, "And did you understand the message?" _And can you accept the difference?_ Was the unspoken question.

"Yes, we understood the message," Harry answered. _And yes, we can accept the difference._ The three of them, Harry, Ron, and Hermione understood that Laura Potter and the Sadist were two different people. The person they knew was Laura Potter, who had secrets and ghosts in her past that she kept hidden from everyone yet was loved and accepted for who she was anyway. Who ever and what ever the Sadist was, was the result of enduring five years in Azkaban and five years of who knew what kind of torture was placed upon them while in that place.

It was the right answer. All ice and reservation that Laura had wrapped around her vanished, and with it vanished the apparent Silencing Charm that had been placed around them as Hermione's voice could be heard throughout the entire house: "HARRY JAMES POTTER! LAURA AKIRA POTTER! GET DOWN HERE NOW! OUR O.W.L. RESULTS ARE HERE!"

Laura raised her eyebrow, "Think she's hyperventilating yet?"

"Knowing Hermione, she had probably started hyperventilating the moment she saw them." Harry answered, smirking.

A positively evil smirk was spreading over his cousin's face, "So, should we wait up here for a little while longer or should we head down?"

"Head down, by the time we get there it she'll have waited long enough. Besides, if we waited any longer, Underaged Restriction or not, she'll curse us into next week." And down they headed to face the wrath of Hermione Jane Granger for not being present in the kitchen when the letters arrived.

A/N: I AM SOOOOO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO UPDATE! It won't happen again, as this is mainly being written at school and we are now banned from the internet except for 'educational purposes' that are needed to do homework. GAH! But the good news is that I now have internet access at home, so it shouldn't talk so long to update.

Next update should be either next week or the week after.


	8. NOTICE

**Note to all my faithful readers:** Due to the most annoying case of writing perfectionisim I have decided to give you all a choice of what I am going to do with this fic:

Continue writing this fic without changing anything

Rewrite the fic and make it infinatly better (in my opinion)

Discontinue in favor of writing something else (either a new 6th year fic or a seventh year one)

Discontinue and not write anything at all

**Notice:** I am changing pen names at my next post. If you would like to know what I am changing too drop me an email and I will let you know.

Much love

Shadow


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